


Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists

by sassywitch (itsacapitalday)



Series: Western Lovers [2]
Category: Lord of the Rings RPF
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-09-01
Updated: 2006-12-20
Packaged: 2017-10-21 22:41:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 32
Words: 98,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/230651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsacapitalday/pseuds/sassywitch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to everyone who has pushed and prodded me into working on this. Y’all know who you are. Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/).

_  
**Western Lovers: Cowboys & Biologists (1/31)**   
_   
  
[   
](http://photobucket.com)

**Title:** Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists  <1/31>  
 **Author:**[](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/profile)[ **sassywitch**](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/)  
 **Beta** the lovely [](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/profile)[**charlieisagirl**](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/)  
 **Pairing:** OB/DW  
 **Rating:** NC-17 for the series, PG-13 this chapter.  
 **Summary:** David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.  
 **Feedback:** Feedback is my writers crack, which is not to be confused at all with plumbers crack.  
 **Disclaimer:** Not at all true in reality. These men whilst adorable and perfectly happy to slash themselves, their actual relationship is something that they only know. This story is adapted from a series of books that I adored when I was younger written by Elizabeth Lowell.  
 **Word Count:** 2337  
 **Previous Story:** Can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1656893.html)  
 **Posted to:** [](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/profile)[**fellowshippers**](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/) and [](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/profile)[**ordaisy**](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/)  
 **Header Art:** Courtesy of the incredibly talented loki_girl.  
 **Author’s Notes:** Thank you to everyone who has pushed and prodded me into working on this. Y’all know who you are. Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/).

~*~*~*~*~*~

The big appaloosa threw up his head and snorted.

“Take it easy, knot head,” David soothed. Then without turning around he added, “Morning, Pip. Hear anything from Miranda?”

Billy Boyd was accustomed to his half brothers uncanny ability to tell when he was being approached and by whom. Even so, Billy had hoped that after close to two years on the Double L, David would lose some of the habits of a guerrilla warrior. But he hadn’t. He had the same fighting edge to his reflexes and senses that he had honed in the mountains of Afghanistan, teaching warriors with flintlocks to defeat soldiers with tanks.

David had the same intense disciplines and concerted lack of emotion that he had learned in Afghanistan as well. Even the Double L’s cowhands had given up betting on when – or why - David Wenham would truly smile.

Billy already knew and saw true smiles every evening as David spent time with his namesake, Daisy-May. Sitting in her carry seat on Billy’s back, she waved her arms and giggled gleefully, reaching for her favourite uncle. David’s leather-encased fingers stretched out to run across her baby-soft face before turning his attention back to his brother.

“Dom called this morning,” Billy spoke, tilting his shoulders just a fraction so Daisy-May could reach out and bat at David’s hand. “Miranda’s surgery is later this morning. Apparently Daisy-May won’t be an only child by tonight.”

“Good. Still can’t believe you two are having a baby.” He paused. “She missed the flu that was going ’round?”  
Nodding, Billy’s eyes narrowed. “Speaking of sick, are you sure you should be on your feet? That was a damn good fever you were running yesterday and I know as well as you do that you’re not over your flu yet.”

“I’m glad Randy isn’t sick,” David said, lifting the saddle from the fence rail and settling it gently over the skittish appaloosa. “She and Dom or you, for that matter should have healthy, beautiful children. I’m looking forward to having another baby around here hollering for its next meal. Liv’s newest is really something.” David cinched the saddle girth with a swift, smooth motion, moving so quickly that the trembling horse had no time to object.

“Like Daisy-May.” Billy reached up to tug playfully on one of her glossy, curly ponytails. “For a little girl that was silent for so long she sure has developed a fine set of lungs. She and Milo make a real pair.” He smiled dryly and accepted that David wasn’t going to talk about his flu, or rest up before a cold ride into the mountains. “Glad you like having babies around; Dom will be bringing home two little screamers.”

David looked over his shoulder, his eyes dancing. “Twins?”

“Yeah, Dommie is so excited he can barely speak. Yes, I know.” Billy noticed his brother’s questioning glare. “Secretive, weren’t we? We’ve known since the first ultrasound but we didn’t want to say anything.” He paused, grinning madly. “We didn’t want to jinx it.”

“She needs to be extra careful. Twins tend to be born small. Small babies have a harder time.” David’s serious tone belied the huge grin that creased his face, obviously delighted by the impending arrival of his niece or nephew or both.

“You can tell her yourself. If it all goes well, they’ll all be here in three days.”

“I won’t.” David gestured with his head towards Mortensen Ridge. “I’m going to spend a few days tracking cats. Supposed to  
be fresh snow by this afternoon up toward Fangorn Canyon. It may be the last tracking snow of the winter.”

 _And maybe, just maybe, when I’m chasing cats rather than fighting fever dreams, I’ll be able to see something other than extraordinary chocolate eyes and a warm, lush mouth that trembles at the smallest touch of my finger._

The back door of the ranch house slammed as someone left the dining room. The appaloosa shied wildly. David cursed in the silence of his mind and dragged his attention back to the horse, Billy stepping away to protect Daisy-May from the animal.

“I can see why Viggo gelded that one,” Billy muttered. “Brego has more brains in his spotted butt than ’tween his ears.”  
David shrugged. “As long as you pay attention, he’s the best winter horse on the Double L.” With the unconscious ease of a man performing a familiar task, David mounted in a single easy motion. “Especially in fresh snow; Brego is big enough not to  
get bogged down in drifts.”

“Wouldn’t life be simpler if you just shot the cougars with a tranq, put a radio collar on them and tracked them on the net?”

“Simpler? Maybe. A hell of a lot more expensive for sure. And even less fun for the cats and for me.”

Billy laughed softly. “That’s what Viggo said. I didn’t argue.” Billy started to turn away. “You know that old cabin just beyond Fangorn Canyon?”

“The one at the end of the abandoned logging road?”

Billy nodded. “A guy from the government called yesterday to tell us that the cougar specialist will be back and using the cabin as a base camp for the next month or two, depending on the cats. So if you find signs of someone moving around up there in the high country, don’t worry. Vig and I agreed to give free access to the Double L as long as we get a copy of whatever report is being filed about the cougars.”

At the word “cabin”, David went very still. A conversation that was over twelve months old and a kiss that had seared itself into his psyche echoed in his head.

 _There’s no other store between here and the government cabin._

“Did anyone mention the name of the cat expert?” he asked.

“They did, but I didn’t quite catch it. Unusual name. Why?”

For a moment David said nothing, remembering Orlando’s gentle voice and strong hands, the utter lack of fear in those eyes when he had seen the elemental violence in his own.

 _“Do you make a habit of collecting and taming wild animals?”_

 _“No. I’m a wildlife biologist, not a zookeeper.”_

Orlando’s voice, his scent, the tactile memory of his alluring warmth….they haunted David’s waking hours. They might have haunted his sleep as well, but he would never know. It was a pact he had made with himself years ago. He never remembered dreams.

“There was a young guy in Helms Deep last fall,” David said evenly. “Orlando. He said something about being a wildlife expert.”

“Last fall?” Billy said his green eyes narrowing.

Though they hadn’t spoken of the altercation that had occurred the day that Billy had sent Dom away, word of the short but violent fight had gone through the entire Four Corners area like forked lightning.  
David nodded.

“Orlando, huh?”

David nodded again.

“Hot?” Billy asked, his handsome face expressionless.

“Why? You getting tired of Dom?”

The idea was so ridiculous that Billy laughed aloud. Then his smile vanished and he looked every bit as hard as his younger brother. “The next time you go one on five,” he said, “I’d take it as a personal favour if you’d invite me, and not just to guard your back. Viggo made the same offer. So did Sean.”

The left corner of David’s mouth turned up very slightly, as close as he ever came to a smile. “Sean too, huh? Does that mean he’s finally forgiven me?”

“When a man is unsure he’s apt to be a bit snarky,” Billy stated blandly.

“You mean apt to be a horse’s butt.”

“Your turn will come.”

“Yours sure did,” David retorted, remembering the tense months before Billy had finally admitted that he was irrevocably bound to Dom. “I’ll tell you, Billy. If I never tangle with you again, it will be too soon.”

“Yeah, well, the hands are taking bets on that one too, especially since word got out that Craig’s coming back as soon as he gets off this mission. Guess he’s finally gotten his fill of jungle fighting.”

“At least they don’t need to worry about Craig getting in a brawl over a lover. Not since Ian.” David leaned forward in the saddle. A flick of his hand freed the pack horse’s lead rope from the corral rail. “The real shame about Ian is that I wasn’t there.” David continued reining Brego toward the mountains. “IF I were there I’d have killed him.” Before Billy could speak, David kicked the big Appaloosa. “Shake a leg, Brego. We’ve got a long ride ahead.”

Billy watched his brother ride out of the home yards, Daisy-May gurgling happily as she waved her little hands over her head toward David. His brow furrowed in concern. David definitely wasn’t his healthy self, but he was too confined by the constraints of civility to spend much more time surrounded by people.

Even with the eager, powerful Appaloosa beneath him, it was afternoon before David rode into Fangorn Canyon’s wide mouth. In all but the worst winter storms, the canyon’s alignment with the prevailing winds kept the flat floor swept relatively free of snow. Patches of evergreens clothed the sloping sides of the canyon, tall trees whose ages were almost all the same. A fire had swept through the canyon almost 80 years before, burning the living forest to ash, leaving behind a ghost forest of heat hardened skeletons. A few of those skeletons still stood upright amid the new forest, their weather smoothed shapes silver and black in the full sun or moonlight.

The on again/off again warmth had melted the snow in places, revealing dark ground. Snowdrifts remained in narrow gullies and ravines and beneath the most dense forest cover. Water sparkled and glittered everywhere, testimony to the melting snow. Drops gathered into tiny rivulets, joined in thin streams, merged into small rushing creeks. Today the drops would freeze again, but only for a short time. Soon they would be free to run down to the distant sea once more.

Soon, but not yet. The storm that had threatened three days before hadn’t materialized. It was coming now though. As Brego followed the zigzagging trail that led out of the northern end of Fangorn Canyon, David could smell the storm on the wind, feel it in the icy fingers ruffling his beard and making his eyes sting. Even the rocks around him weren’t impervious. They had known the grip of countless winters, water silently freezing, expanding, splitting stones everywhere in the high reaches of the canyon where slopes too steep to grow trees were covered with angular stones that had been chiselled from boulders and bedrock by countless picks of ice.

At the top of the steep trail, David reined in and let Brego rest for a few minutes. Between gusts of wind the silence was complete. The tiniest sound came clearly through the air – a pebble tolling from beneath steel-shod hooves, a raven calling across the canyon. Brego’s ears flicked and twitched nervously as he tried to hear every sound. When a pebble dislodged by water clattered down the slope, the horse’s nostrils flared, the skin on his shoulder flinched and he shied.

“Take it easy, boy,” David said in a soothing voice as he gathered in the roping rein more tightly.

Even as David’s left hand managed the reins, his right hand checked that the rifle was still in its saddle holster. The gesture was so automatic that he was unaware of it, legacy of commando training and years spent in places where to be unarmed was to die. The rifle’s cold, smooth stock came easily into his hand, then settled back into the sheath.  
Brego snorted and bunched his haunches, wanting to be free of the pressure of the bit. David glanced at the packhorse. Lily was ignoring Brego’s nervousness.

“Settle down, knot head,” David said calmly. “IF there was anything around but wind and shadows, Lily would know. She has a nose like a hound.”

Brego chewed resentfully on the bit as the wind gusted suddenly, raking the landscape with fingernails of ice. David tugged his hat down more firmly and guided the horse out onto the exposed slope. For the first hundred years, a faint, ragged line across the wind-scoured scree was the only sign of a trail. The line had been left by generations of deer, cougars, and occasional Indians. In modern times, deer and cougars still used the game trail, as did Double L cowhands who were working both Fangorn Canyon and the leased grazing lands beyond.

Brego was in the centre of the scree when the black flash of a raven skimming over the land spooked him. Between one heartbeat and the next, Brego tried to leap over his own shadow.

There was no time for David to think, to plan, to escape. Reflex took over. Even as Brego lost his footing on the loose stone, David was kicking free of the stirrups and grabbing the rifle, and throwing himself toward the uphill side of the trail. Inches away from his rider’s body, Brego’s powerful hooves flailed as the horse lost its balance and began rolling down the slope in a clattering shower of loose stone. David fell too, turning and rolling rapidly, surrounded by loose rocks, no way to stop himself, nothing solid to hang on to.

At the bottom of the slope, a massive boulder stopped David’s body. Before the last stone in the small landslide had stopped rolling, Brego staggered to his feet, shook himself thoroughly, and looked around. When nothing happened, the horse walked calmly to the edge of the recent slide and looked for something edible. A few minutes later the packhorse joined Brego, having found a less dangerous way to the bottom of the slope.

Before long, the grey sky lowered and dissolved into the pale dance of countless snowflakes. The horses turned their tails to the wind and drifted before the storm.

[ Chapter 2](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/597.html)   



	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has pushed and prodded me into working on this. Y’all know who you are. Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/).

_  
**Western Lovers:Cowboys & Biologists (2/31)**   
_   
  
[   
](http://photobucket.com)

**Title:** Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists  <2/31>  
 **Author:**[](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/profile)[ **sassywitch**](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/)  
 **Beta** the lovely [](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/profile)[**charlieisagirl**](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/)  
 **Pairing:** OB/DW  
 **Rating:** NC-17 for the series, PG-13 this chapter.  
 **Summary:** David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.  
 **Feedback:** Feedback is my writers crack, which is not to be confused at all with plumbers crack.  
 **Disclaimer:** Not at all true in reality. These men whilst adorable and perfectly happy to slash themselves, their actual relationship is something that they only know. This story is adapted from a series of books that I adored when I was younger written by Elizabeth Lowell.  
 **Word Count:** 1248  
 **Previous Story:** Can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1656893.html)  
 **Posted to:** [](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/profile)[**fellowshippers**](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/) and [](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/profile)[**ordaisy**](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/)  
 **Header Art:** Courtesy of the incredibly talented loki_girl.  
 **Author’s Notes:** Thank you to everyone who has pushed and prodded me into working on this. Y’all know who you are. Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/).

~*~*~*~*~*~

Baby’s ululating howl brought Orlando to his feet in a rush of adrenaline. The wolf had been running free all day, for Orlando hadn’t yet needed Baby’s keen nose. He would put him to work after the storm had passed, leaving a fragile shawl of white over the land. Then Orlando would roam widely, noting and recording the cat tracks that would show clearly in the fresh snow. Once the snow melted away, Baby’s nose would make certain that Orlando could follow the cats even across solid rock.

A steaming cup of coffee in his hand, Orlando went to the cabin door, opened it and listened. The slow glide of snowflakes to the ground and muffled sounds limited his visibility to less than a hundred feet.

Baby howled again, calling out in the eerie harmonics of his wolf father.

Orlando listened closely. “Not his hunting song; not his lonely song; not his great-to-be-alive song.”

The haunting cry rose again, closer now, piercing the snow’s silence.

“I hear you, Baby. You’re coming back to me.”

A black shape materialized at the edge of the snowfall. With the ghostly silence of smoke, Baby came across the clearing to the cabin. There was a brief hesitation in his gait, a slight asymmetry in his stride: the legacy of the steel trap that had maimed him years before.

Instead of greeting Orli and going about his business, Baby caught his hand delicately in his mouth and looked at him with intent yellow eyes. Curiosity leaped in Orlando. Baby rarely insisted on having his attention. When he did, it was to warn him that they weren’t alone any longer – men were somewhere near.

“Company is coming, hmmm?” After what had happened the previous fall in Helm’s Deep, Orlando was glad for the presence of the huge, dark wolf. “Well, don’t worry: I just made a big pot of coffee. Come on in, Baby. We’ll greet whoever it is together.”

Orlando tried to withdraw his hand. Politely, gently, Baby’s jaws tightened.

Curiosity gave way to a fresh rush of adrenaline in Orlando. A picture condensed in his mind – eyes of pale, icy blue, a thick pelt of strawberry-blond hair and beard, a face that was too hard to be called handsome and too fiercely good-looking to be called anything else.

 _Stay away from me, Orlando…I want you more than all the men in that bar put together._

It wasn’t the first time Orlando had thought of the dark stranger who had come to his aid. His image condensed between Orlando’s eyes and the hearth fire, the wild sky, the rugged land. David’s kiss haunted him with questions that couldn’t be answered.

 _Who are you, David? Where are you? Is it your scent on the snow wind that is calling to my wolf?_

As soon as the hopeful thought came, Orlando pushed it aside. David hadn’t looked back after he had walked away from him. He hadn’t left any message for him the following morning. He hadn’t even told Orlando his last name.

Orlando looked into Baby’s eyes and wished futilely that he could truly communicate with him. Baby had been this insistent only once before, in Alaska, when it was a silvertip grizzly sniffing around downwind rather than a lonely trapper smelling smoke and hoping for a cup of fresh coffee.

“Are you sure it’s important, Baby? Dr McKellen personally assured me that there were no bears left in this part of the lower forty-eight. That’s why I left my rifle with Mark.”

Baby made a soft, somehow urgent sound deep in his throat and tugged on Orlando’s hand. Then he released him, trotted away about twenty feet and looked over his shoulder.

“You’re sure? Compared to the Yukon there isn’t enough snow to mention, but I’m really not dying for a hike in the white stuff. There’s not enough snowpack for cross country skis or snowshoes which means…”

Baby whined softly, pleading in the only way he could. Then he threw back his head and howled. The hair on the back of Orlando’s neck stirred in primal response. Not even for the grizzly had Baby been so insistent.

“Baby. _Stay_.”

Knowing without looking that the wolf would obey, Orlando spun around and ran back into the cabin. He grabbed a canteen, filled it with hot coffee, banked the hearth fire, yanked on two layers of snow gear, shrugged into the backpack he always kept ready to go and ran out the front door in less than three minutes. Orlando glanced at his watch, wondering how long he would be gone. If necessary, he could live out of his backpack for several days. He would just as soon have the comforts of the cabin, however.

“Okay, Baby. Let’s go.”

The wolf didn’t waste any time. He set off at a purposeful trot across the meadow and through the evergreens. Orlando walked swiftly behind, pacing himself so that he would neither tire quickly nor become sweaty. Sweat was one of the greatest hazards of snow country, for when a person stopped moving, sweat froze, creating a layer of ice against the skin that sapped warmth dangerously.

Baby was careful to never get out of Orlando’s sight. Nor did he run with his nose to the ground as though following a trail. Gradually, Orlando realized that Baby was retracing his own steps – in places where snow had gathered, his tracks went in both directions.

Orlando had been following Baby for ten minutes when he saw the first hoof-prints in a patch of snow. Two horses, one with a rein or a rope dragging. They were headed roughly southeast and he was headed roughly north. Baby ignored the horse sign even though Orlando could see it was very fresh. The softly falling snow hadn’t yet blurred the crisp edges of the tracks. He stopped, stared off through the snow and thought he saw a vague shape that could have been a horse standing in the shelter of a big evergreen.

“Baby!”

The wolf stopped, gave a short, sharp bark and resumed trotting.

After only an instant of hesitation, Orlando kept following Baby. He would trust the half-wild, half-tame animal’s uncanny instincts. If Baby wasn’t interested in the horse, it was because he had more important game in mind.

Without turning aside even once, Baby retraced his own tracks. The forest ended at the foot of a scree slope. Automatically, Orlando checked the barren slope first. Even beneath the veil of falling snow the story of what had happened was clear: at least one horse had come skidding and rolling down through the scree, starting a small rockslide in the process. Hoof-prints led away from the disturbed ground. There was no sign of any horse nearby.

Baby never hesitated. He darted over the loose debris left by the slide and sat near a massive boulder ten yards from Orlando. There the slide had parted like water, leaving behind larger rocks before closing around the downhill side of the car sized boulder.

“Baby? What—”

Orlando’s breath broke, then came in harshly as he realized that something lay half-buried in the loose stone that had piled against the huge boulder.

A man.

His body blended with the rubble from the recent slide. Fresh snowfall was rapidly blurring all distinctions between stone and flesh. The man was motionless yet hauntingly familiar. His bearded face was turned up to the chilly softness of falling snow.

“ _David!_ ”

No motion answered Orlando’s cry.

[ Chapter 3](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/910.html)   



	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has pushed and prodded me into working on this. Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/).

_  
**Western Lovers:Cowboys & Biologists (3/31)**   
_   
  
[   
](http://photobucket.com)

**Title:** Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists  <3/31>  
 **Author:**[](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/profile)[ **sassywitch**](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/)  
 **Beta** the patient and talented [](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/profile)[**charlieisagirl**](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/)  
 **Pairing:** OB/DW  
 **Rating:** NC-17 for the series, PG-13 this chapter.  
 **Summary:** David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.  
 **Feedback:** Feedback is my writers crack, which is not to be confused at all with plumbers crack.  
 **Disclaimer:** Not at all true in reality. These men whilst adorable and perfectly happy to slash themselves, their actual relationship is something that they only know. This story is adapted from a series of books that I adored when I was younger written by Elizabeth Lowell.  
 **Word Count:** 3020  
 **Previous Story:** Can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1656893.html)  
 **Previous Chapters:** [ Chapter 1](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/353.html)|[ Chapter 2](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/597.html)  
 **Posted to:** [](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/profile)[**fellowshippers**](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/) , [](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/profile)[**monaboyd**](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/) and [](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/profile)[**ordaisy**](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/)  
 **Header Art:** Courtesy of the incredibly talented [](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/profile)[**loki_girl**](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/).  
 **Author’s Notes:** Thank you to everyone who has pushed and prodded me into working on this. Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/).

Orlando scrambled through the loose debris and threw himself down at David’s side. Even as he ripped off his gloves and his trembling fingers felt for David’s pulse, he saw the brassy glitter of spent shell casings scattered on top of the rocky rubble. A rifle was still gripped in David’s big right hand. The skin of his left wrist was cool but not chilled. He must have been conscious at some time since his fall, for he had fired the rifle repeatedly.

“David,” Orlando said, pitching his voice to be both reassuring and distinct. Still talking, he moved back from David so that he could shrug out of his backpack and down jacket. “David, can you hear me?”

A shudder rippled through his powerful body. His eyes opened, a cougar’s eyes, trapped, dangerous. The fingers holding the rifle tightened. Orlando didn’t notice, for he was spreading his bright red jacket over David’s chest.

“Do you hurt anywhere?” Orlando asked.

When David’s eyes focused on him, they changed. Life and light came back into them. He shook his head as though to clear it.

“If you can do that, you didn’t break your neck.”

Relief was bright in Orlando’s voice. Growing up on a homestead in Alaska had taught him the basics of first aid – splinting breaks, stitching up gashes, the dangers of hypothermia, but spine injuries were beyond his skill.

And the thought of David hurt bothered Orlando deeply.

Orlando pulled off the knitted ski hat he had worn underneath his jacket hood. A moment later he was leaning over David, stretching the hat to cover David’s short ginger hair, tucking stray strands in, Orlando’s face only inches from David’s, his breath bathing David’s cheeks above his beard, his soft brown curls touching David when he turned his head.

“There. That will help you to stay warm.”

“Orlando? What the hell are you doing out here?”

“Ask Baby. He dragged me out of a nice warm cabin and insisted I go for a walk in the snow.”

Gently Orlando lowered David’s head back to the ground, cushioned the rocks beneath with one of his jackets’ quilted sleeves, and looked closely into David’s pale blue eyes. Both pupils were the same size and he was studying Orlando with an intensity that was almost tangible. Whatever else had happened in his fall, his faculties were intact.

“Thank God,.” Orlando whispered, too softly for David to hear.

But David did, just as he felt the rushing warmth of the sigh Orlando gave, as though the weight of the mountainside had just slipped from the slender man’s shoulders.

“Baby must have found you earlier, sensed something was wrong and came back to get me.” Orlando continued, tucking his bright jacket around David’s broad chest.

David blinked, scattering snowflakes that had tangled in his thick eyelashes. “Be damned. Thought I saw a wolf a while back, but there aren’t any wolves around here so I chalked it up to taking a header down the mountain.”

“You did that, all right. Where do you hurt?”

“Nowhere.”

Orlando looked skeptical. “Then why are you lying here?”

“My left foot is wedged against the big boulder. When I couldn’t dig myself out, I began firing my rifle three rounds at a time.”

Orlando nodded. Three-spaced shots were a universal “come running” signal. “Baby must have heard the shots or caught your scent on the wind.” He turned back to the knapsack, pulled out the canteen, and took off the top. The coffee was still hot. He put the canteen in David’s hands. “This will help warm you. Drink as much as you can while I look at your foot.”

David inhaled deeply. “Damn! That smells like real coffee.”

“Guaranteed strong enough to grow hair on the bottom of your feet.” Orlando agreed as he began pulling on his gloves.

The corner of David’s mouth shifted unnoticeably beneath his beard as he lifted the canteen and drank deeply. The hot, rich liquid spread through his body like a benediction, warming everything it touched. Reluctantly, he stopped drinking.

“You want some?” David asked.

“I’m plenty warm,” Orlando said. “Drink as much as you can hold.”

“That will be all of it.”

“Good.”

While David finished the coffee, Orlando began pushing loose rock away from David’s hips and legs, clearing his trapped ankle. As he worked, he tried not to notice the clean, powerful lines of David’s body. It was impossible. David was a large, healthy male animal, and called to his senses in ways that disconcerted him.

David licked the last drop of coffee from his mustache and watched Orlando working over his legs. His motions were sure, efficient and productive. Obviously he wasn’t going to come apart in an emergency.

He liked that as much as he liked the muscular curves beneath his ski jersey and pullover sweater and the lean angles of his slender hips. But admiring Orlando’s body was having a pronounced effect on his own, so he concentrated on his face instead, memorizing the smooth skin of his cheeks, the rich chocolate color of his eyes, the tempting sweetness of his mouth.

Orlando looked up, sensing David’s intense regard. He shifted his glance to the slope.

“You see any horses on the way here?”

“Just tracks. A big horse and a smaller one, both wearing winter shoes. Both drifting south and east in front of the wind.” Stones clattered and rattled, pushed by Orlando’s hands as he resumed digging. “I might have seen one of them under a big evergreen about five minutes up the trail, but I couldn’t be sure. The smaller horse is dragging a rope or a rein. Neither of the horses is limping, although the bigger one rolled down the same slope you did. If there was any blood, it wasn’t much. So relax. Your horses are better off then you are.”

“Big horse. Small horse. Winter shoes. Rope.” David looked at Orlando’s clean profile and asked neutrally, “Where did you learn how to track?”

“Alaska.”

“Horses?” he asked skeptically.

“Cats.” Orlando replied, struggling to shove aside a rock that was smaller than a pony, but not much. “I studied lynx in the North Woods. I came here to study cougars. After cats, tracking horses is a piece of cake.”

David’s eyes changed, intensity returning. Orlando was going to be living in the remote area around Fangorn Canyon, tracking cougars that had returned to the Double L.

And so was he.

“ _Damn,_ ” Orlando said under his breath. He braced his shoulder and tried again to shift the smaller of the two boulders. “Did you try pulling your foot out of your boot?”

“Yes. Rest before you start sweating.”

Orlando hesitated then nodded. He was right. He sat back on his heels and breathed deeply, trying not to let his worry show. David’s foot was wedged securely between a big rock that was too large for him to shift and the massive boulder that had broken the back of the landslide. Loose rubble slithered and stirred and eased downhill every time he tried to dig him out.

“How’s your head?” As Orlando asked the question, his eyes were searching the slope for something to use as a lever against the smaller of the two boulders that were holding David captive.

“I’ll live.”

“Dizzy? Double Vision? Nausea?”

“No. I have a hard skull.”

He smiled without looking at him, still searching for a lever. “I won’t touch that line. How bad is your foot?”

“Cold is a good anesthetic.”

“Too good. You were unconscious when I got here.”

“I would have awakened in ten minutes and fired three more rounds.”

David’s certainty made Orlando look back at him.

“Hypothermia--” he began

“It’s not a problem yet,” David interrupted flatly. “I’ve been a lot colder under a lot worse conditions and functioned just fine.”

Orlando tugged off one glove, grabbed David’s wrist and started counting. His pulse was strong. Cold hadn’t slowed his body processes yet. And the quart of hot coffee would help hold the chill of the ground at bay.

“All right.” Unconsciously, Orlando caressed David’s left wrist and his palm with his fingertips, reassured by his tangible heat and the resilience of his flesh. Like Baby, David fairly radiated an elemental vitality. “Where did you learn to sleep and wake yourself whenever you wanted?”

“Afghanistan.” His voice was clipped, foreclosing any other questions.

“They have some big mountains there, and a lot of mines,” Orlando said absently. He looked past David into the forest, focusing on a piece of deadfall that might work as a lever. “Are you a geologist?”

“No.”

Despite the warning in David’s voice, Orlando was beginning to ask another question when he felt wetness on his fingertips. He looked down and saw a trickle of blood across David’s hand. Ignoring his brief protest, he eased off his leather glove. A jagged, partially healed cut went across the back of his hand. The scab had been broken in one place. Fresh blood oozed slowly towards his tanned wrist.

Orlando breathed David’s name and stroked the uninjured flesh on either side of the cut. Memories of anger and fear and the razor edges of a freshly broken beer bottle lanced through him.

“You should have let me take care of you last fall.”

“I don’t need anyone to take care of me. I never have. I never will.”

This time the warning in David’s voice got through.

“Really?” Orlando asked casually. “Then I hope you’re comfortable, cowboy. It may be a long time before anyone comes along this particular piece of mountainside.”

There was a tight silence before the left corner of David’s mouth shifted very slightly.

“You must be the exception that proves the rule.”

“Gosh, I’m so glad you explained that too me. I was beginning to wonder if you hadn’t hit your head too hard on one of those rocks.” Suddenly Orlando frowned and shifted his grip on David’s wrist. “Are you sure you feel all right? Your pulse is pretty fast right now.”

“My resting pulse is in the low sixties.”

“But –”

“I’m not resting.”

“You have a point. But your pulse has increased in the past minute or two.”

“If anyone else was leaning over me and stroking my wrist like a lover, my pulse wouldn’t have budged.”

It took a few moments for the meaning of David’s words to get past Orlando’s concern for him. A rising tide of color marked the exact instant of his understanding that he was cradling David's hand between his own. Even worse, he was running his fingertips caressingly from the pulse point on David's wrist to the base of his fingers and back again.

“Sorry,” Orlando said dropping David’s hand. He pulled on his glove again and spoke quickly. “I’m a tactile kind of person. When I’m nervous or worried or thinking hard I tend to stroke things. You were within reach.”

It was partly true. The rest of the truth was that was there was something about David that made Orlando want to stroke him, to learn his textures and pleasures, to make him smile, to warm him, to….heal him.

 _And then set him free?_

There was no answer except Orlando’s silent, inner cry of pain at the thought of David turning away from him again. The depth of his reaction was irrational and he knew it. He also knew it was as deep as a night sky, and as real. Knowing that, Orlando stopped fighting his response to David. Working in the wild as much as he did had taught him to accept things that did not make sense within the narrow cultural limits of modern rationality.

“Tactile, huh?” David drawled. “Must make life interesting for the men around you.”

“The only men in my life have fur and fangs and go on all fours.”

Stones rattled as Orlando went back to work clearing debris around David’s trapped ankle. It seemed that for every two handfuls he pushed aside, a handful more slithered down to fill the depression.

“Can you reach my backpack?” Orlando asked after a few minutes.

Instead of answering, David twisted his body, reached and snagged the backpack. Any lingering questions Orlando might have had as to David’s hidden injuries vanished. Except for the trapped foot, David moved with supreme ease.

“What do you need?” he asked

“Not me. You. This is trickier than I thought it would be. There’s a survival blanket in the backpack. Turn the black side out.”

David didn’t argue. Though nether of them had mentioned it, both knew it would take time to free his ankle-if it could be done at all. Even with the help of hot coffee, his body couldn’t hold heat indefinitely. Lying on the cold ground was slowly sapping his living warmth.

He opened the backpack and sorted through its contents with growing approval. Orlando’s fingers might be as hot and gentle as moonlight, and his breath might be as sweetly heady as wine, but he was no hothouse flower when it came to living in the wild. He had everything he might reasonably expect to need in an emergency, except a weapon.

Speculatively, David looked over at Baby, who was watching him with yellow eyes that missed nothing.

 _Maybe he doesn’t need a gun after all. I’ll bet Baby would go to war for him. Hell, I did once and I would again. No hesitation._

 _I wonder if Johnson knows just how lucky he was._

A snap of David’s wrist unrolled the survival blanket. He sat upright. The bright red of Orlando’s snow jacket slid away from his body as he put the empty canteen in the backpack. Wind blew across his chest, penetrating even his own Shearling jacket’s thick protection, making him shiver in a reflexive effort to warm himself.

Instantly Orlando was at David’s side. He put the backpack aside and helped him to wrap the thin, incredibly warm material of the survival blanket around his body. Orlando tried not to notice the intimacy of David’s breath on his face when he leaned over him, urging him to lie back. He tried not to breathe in fast and hard, taking David’s breath into his body, shivering at the realization that even in such a small way David was a part of him now.

“Lie down,” Orlando spoke, his voice low. “There’s less of you for the wind to work on that way.” Methodically he folded up his jacket and made a pillow for David’s head.

“Here. I don’t need this while I’m digging.”

David’s senses were far too acute for him to have missed the telltale catching of Orlando’s breath, the new huskiness of his voice, the concern that went beyond that of one human being for another who needed help. Orlando was intensely aware of him as a man.

Grimly David tried to still his body’s violent response to the knowledge that Orlando was as drawn to him as he was to him. He succeeded in quelling the rush of his blood, but only up to a point. When Orlando pulled the survival blanket more snugly around his hips, he was confronted by the one thing David couldn’t control – the hard evidence of his response to Orlando. The mixture of emotions on his face when he saw the fit of David’s jeans would have made anyone but David smile.

“Reassured about my health?” he asked in a dry tone.

“Try astonished,” Orlando said faintly.

“Why? I’m a man, in case you hadn’t noticed.”

“In case you hadn’t noticed, you’re a man who is in a hell of a jam at the moment.”

“So?”

“So I wouldn’t think you’d be feeling very, er, lively,” Orlando muttered. He ducked his head, knowing his cheeks were red from much, much more than a cold wind.

“I accepted a long time ago that nobody gets out of life alive.” David said matter-of-factly. “Once you accept that you stop worrying about the details of when and where and how. Dead now or dead fifty years from now, dead is dead. And alive is alive, all the way, full to the max. I’m alive and you turn me on deep and quick and hard. I don’t like that one damn bit, but there’s nothing I can do about it.”

Orlando looked at him, a question in his eyes that he wouldn’t ask. David knew what that question was. He knew what the answer was too.

“I don’t like being turned on by you because you still believe in fairy tales like love. I know better. That’s why I told you to stay away from me. But it didn’t work out that way did it?”

Slowly, Orlando searched David’s sharp blue eyes, wondering what had made him the way he was and what might heal him so that he could live completely again.

“No, it didn’t work out that way,” Orlando said, his voice both gentle and determined. “Life is always unexpected, David. That’s why laughter is vital and very real. And life always seeks life. That’s why love is vital and very real. Not fairytale. Reality.”

“Sex is real,” David said flatly. “Love is a game. I’m too old to play games and you’re too young to do anything else so finish digging me out of this hole and say goodbye.”

Orlando looked at David’s icy eyes and knew that arguing with him would be futile. Yet he couldn’t help reaching out to him, stroking the smooth skin of his cheek and the sleek pelt of his beard, soothing and reassuring him that he wasn’t alone within the bleak world of his choosing.

With shocking speed David’s hand locked around Orlando’s wrist, preventing Orlando from deepening his caresses.

“I’m trapped but I’m a long way from helpless,” he said coldly. “Dig or get the hell out of here and leave me alone.”

Orlando had no doubt that David meant it: he would sooner lie trapped in a snowstorm than submit to a kind of touching that had nothing to do with sex.

[ Chapter 4](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1032.html)


	4. Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists <4/31>

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has pushed and prodded me into working on this. Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/).

_  
**FIC: Western Lovers:Cowboys & Biologists (4/31)**   
_   
  
[   
](http://photobucket.com)

**Title:** Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists  <4/31>  
 **Author:**[](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/profile)[ **sassywitch**](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/)  
 **Beta** the patient and talented [](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/profile)[**charlieisagirl**](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/)  
 **Pairing:** OB/DW  
 **Rating:** NC-17 for the series, PG-13 this chapter.  
 **Summary:** David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.  
 **Feedback:** Feedback is my writers crack, which is not to be confused at all with plumbers crack.  
 **Disclaimer:** Not at all true in reality. These men whilst adorable and perfectly happy to slash themselves, their actual relationship is something that they only know. This story is adapted from a series of books that I adored when I was younger written by Elizabeth Lowell.  
 **Word Count:** 1096  
 **Previous Story:** Can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1656893.html)  
 **Previous Ordaisy chapter:** As suggested by [](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/profile)[**mystery_ink**](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/) can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1650642.html)  
 **Previous Chapters:** [ Chapter 1](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/353.html)|[ Chapter 2](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/597.html) |[ Chapter 3](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/910.html)  
 **Posted to:** [](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/profile)[**fellowshippers**](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/) , [](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/profile)[**monaboyd**](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/) and [](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/profile)[**ordaisy**](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/)  
 **Header Art:** Courtesy of the incredibly talented [](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/profile)[**loki_girl**](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/).  
 **Author’s Notes:** Thank you to everyone who has pushed and prodded me into working on this. Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/).

~*~*~*~*~*

The pain that came with Orlando’s understanding froze the breath in his throat, making him ache for whatever wounding had caused so deep a scar to form within David, sealing off all emotion except an icy rage.

Sudden tears burned behind Orlando’s eyes. He looked away quickly, knowing David would have less use for his tears than he had for his comforting touch. Saying nothing, he came to his feet and walked away from him. The falling snow was much thicker now, limiting visibility to less than ten feet. Baby whined softly in confusion, then trotted after Orlando, leaving David alone beneath the lowering sky.

When Orlando returned five minutes later dragging a branch taller than he was, David was just raising the rifle to his shoulder.

“Save the bullets,” Orlando said. “There’s no one else around to care. You’re stuck with me.”

David lowered his rifle, grabbed the jacket and fired it in Orlando’s direction. “Put this on. It’s cold.”

Orlando didn’t bother to argue that he didn’t need the jacket as long as he kept moving. Nor did he try to put it back beneath David’s head as he wanted to. He simply stepped over the bright mound of cloth and knelt near David’s trapped foot, examining it closely.

Nothing had changed. Just above the ankle bone, David’s boot was caught between heavy stones. After a struggle that left him breathing rapidly, he managed to wedge one end of the thick branch beneath the smaller of the two boulders.

 _Smaller,_ Orlando thought with a fear that he concealed from David. _Lord. That stone has to weigh more than David and I put together. I hope the branch I found is strong enough. I hope I’m strong enough. By the time I could go for help and get back, it would be too late._

“Do you still have feeling in your foot?” Orlando asked tightly.

“Some.”

“Too bad. This is going to hurt. Do try not to cry, cowboy. It would hurt my feelings.”

Despite David’s determination to keep Orlando at a distance, his deadpan instructions made the corner of his mouth move slightly. He shook his head. “I’ll do my best.”

“That’s all I can ask, isn’t it?” he said beneath his breath, thinking David couldn’t hear. “Of you, of me, of anything.”

David did hear, but there was nothing he could say or do. Orlando was right and David knew it. He just didn’t like it.

Orlando bent his legs, braced his shoulder beneath the branch and began to straighten, pouring every bit of his strength and determination into moving the stone, straining against a weight he was never meant to lift.

Putting his free foot against the smaller boulder, David shoved hard. It had done no good before. It did no good now. He had no leverage, nothing but brute strength and no way to apply it effectively. He could wrench his trapped leg but he couldn’t free himself.

Helplessly, his much greater strength useless, David watched Orlando strain against the stone again and again, spending himself recklessly in an attempt to free David. David, for his part, cursed steadily, silently, wishing that he could so something--anything--to lighten Orlando’s burden. He was too slender, too fragile, too gentle – like life itself, a flame burning against a vast icy darkness. Orlando would break his own heart and have nothing to show for it but the memory of pain and failure.

“Orlando.” David said roughly, unable to bear watching an instant longer. “Orlando, stop!”

If Orlando heard, he ignored him. A ragged sound was dragged from Orlando’s throat as he strained to straighten his body and, in doing so, force the boulder aside just a little, his muscles straining, just a few fractions of an inch – his body screaming – just enough for David’s foot to slide free of the rocky vise – Orlando’s vision blurring and his breath burning in his chest until he sobbed.

The boulder grated as it shifted minutely.

It was all David had been waiting for and more than he had thought possible. He shoved hard with his free leg against the boulder and at the same time yanked his leg backward, ignoring the pain that shot through his ankle. After a few agonizing seconds his foot wrenched free of the boot and the rocky vise.

“I’m out!”

Instantly Orlando let go of the branch and sank to his knees, breathing in great gulps, trying to get enough oxygen to keep the world from receding down an endless black tunnel. When he finally succeeded, he realized that David was kneeling next to him, his arms around him, supporting him. With a broken sigh he leaned against David’s strength.

“Sorry ’bout the boot.”

“Never fit right anyway. Too big. Damn good thing, too.”

David leaned to the side, snagged Orlando’s jacket with one hand and began stuffing him into it. When he was finished he caught his face between his big hands.

“Do you hurt anywhere?” he asked.

Orlando shook his head.

“Don’t ever do anything that stupid again. You can tear yourself up inside and never know until it’s too late,” David said savagely. “Can you walk to the cabin?”

Orlando nodded.

“Get going,” he said. “You’re sweaty. Don’t stop to rest until you’re in dry clothes.”

“But…”

“ _Move._ ”

“What about you?” Orlando persisted.

“I can take care of myself.”

As he spoke, David automatically wiped snow off the rifle, checked the load and the firing mechanism. Satisfied that everything was in working order, he used the butt of the rifle to lever himself to his feet. Circulation was returning to his left foot, but slowly. With the renewed flowing of blood came excruciating pain. David ignored it. Using the rifle as a makeshift crutch, he took a step forward.

And fell full-length into the snow.

Even as David rolled onto his side to lever himself upright again, Orlando spoke quickly to Baby. The wolf hit David squarely in the chest, knocked him back into the snow and put one very large paw on his chest. David realized instantly that he wasn’t going to get up again without fighting Baby. The prospect wasn’t inviting.

Orlando bent over David, survival blanket in hand. “Wrap up. I’ll be back with the horses as soon as I can.”

Before he could straighten again, David’s hand flashed out and snared his wrist in an immovable grip. His eyes were as cold and bleak as his voice.

“Baby or no Baby, you damn well better be in dry clothes when I see you again.”

[ Chapter 5](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1359.html)   



	5. Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists <5/31>

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has pushed and prodded me into working on this. Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/).

_  
**Western Lovers:Cowboys & Biologists (5/31)**   
_   
  
[   
](http://photobucket.com)

**Title:** Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists  <5/31>  
 **Author:**[](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/profile)[ **sassywitch**](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/)  
 **Beta** the patient and talented [](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/profile)[**charlieisagirl**](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/)  
 **Pairing:** OB/DW  
 **Rating:** NC-17 for the series, PG-13 this chapter.  
 **Summary:** David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.  
 **Feedback:** Feedback is my writers crack, which is not to be confused at all with plumbers crack.  
 **Disclaimer:** Not at all true in reality. These men whilst adorable and perfectly happy to slash themselves, their actual relationship is something that they only know. This story is adapted from a series of books that I adored when I was younger written by Elizabeth Lowell.  
 **Word Count:** 3581  
 **Previous Story:** Can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1656893.html)  
 **Previous Ordaisy chapter:** As suggested by [](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/profile)[**mystery_ink**](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/) can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1650642.html)  
 **Previous Chapters:** [ Chapter 1](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/353.html)|[ Chapter 2](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/597.html) |[ Chapter 3](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/910.html)|[ Chapter 4](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1032.html)  
 **Posted to:** [](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/profile)[**fellowshippers**](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/) , [](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/profile)[**monaboyd**](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/) and [](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/profile)[**ordaisy**](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/)  
 **Header Art:** Courtesy of the incredibly talented [](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/profile)[**loki_girl**](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/).  
 **Author’s Notes:** Thank you to everyone who has pushed and prodded me into working on this. Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/).

~*~*~*~*~*

When Orlando returned leading the Appaloosa and the packhorse, he found Baby sitting next to David. The animal’s black paw was on the man’s forearm. Yellow wolf eyes stared into equally untamed ice blue ones. Neither one looked up when he walked in.

Orlando had the distinct impression that both of them were enjoying measuring the other up.

A single word called Baby off guard duty. He removed his big paw, stretched and waved his tail at David in a silent offering of truce. Gravely, David took off his glove and held out his hand. Baby sniffed, ducked his head and offered it to be scratched.

“You’re all bluff, aren’t you, Baby?” David asked.

A huge gleaming wolf’s grin was Baby’s answer.

“Impressive. Who’s your dentist?”

Orlando smiled despite himself. He was still smiling when David’s head turned and his pale blue glance raked over him, taking in every detail of his appearance. Suddenly Orlando was very grateful the horses had continued to drift in the direction of his cabin. Otherwise he wouldn’t have taken the time to change into dry clothes before coming back to David. Then he would have had to explain to David why it had been more important to get back to him quickly than it had been to find dry clothes for himself. Orlando doubted that David would have found his arguments convincing.

David folded the survival blanket, stuffed it in his jacket pocket and levered himself into a standing position.

“How’s your foot?” Orlando asked finally.

“It’s there.”

“I can see that,” he muttered, leading the appaloosa closer. “Does it hurt? Do you have any feeling in it? Is it frostbitten?”

“Are you cold?” he asked, ignoring Orlando’s questions.

“Damn it, David. I’m not the one who’s hurt!”

“Neither am I. Guess that means we’re both fine. Take it easy, you knot-head.”

At first, Orlando thought David was referring to him. Then he realized David was talking to the spotted horse, which had shied when David came awkwardly to his feet. That was the end of David’s awkwardness, however. He grabbed the saddle horn and vaulted into the saddle with catlike ease, exhibiting a grace that Orlando watched in awe.

“Hand me my rifle.”

For a moment Orlando was too stunned to say anything. David was going to ride off into the storm without so much as a thank you. He could handle the lack of gratitude. What made Orlando furious was the knowledge that he wasn’t nearly as fine as he said he was. David’s face was too pale and Orlando was afraid the stain of red over his cheekbones owed more to fever than windburn. But apparently David was angry about being guarded by Baby, or too proud to admit he needed anything more from him, or both.

Orlando handed the rifle up to David, shrugged into his backpack and walked off up the trail toward the cabin without a word, too furious to trust himself to speak. His short temper shocked him. Normally he was the last one to lose control – but normally he wouldn’t have spent the last hour digging a man out of a hole before he froze to death. And not just any man. A man Orlando had taken one look at and gone to with the absolute certainty of water running downhill to the waiting sea.

A man who thought love was a fairy tale.

A spotted flank materialized from the snowstorm in front of Orlando. The appaloosa was standing across the trail, blocking his way. At an unseen signal from David, the horse turned toward him and then stood motionless once more. David kicked his stocking-clad foot out of the left stirrup and leaned toward Orlando, holding out his left arm.

“Climb on.”

“I’ve never ridden,” Orlando said tightly.

“I’ve never had a wolf sicced on me. Learn something new every day.”

“I didn’t sic-“

“The hell you didn’t. Grab hold of me.”

Orlando was never sure what happened next. All he knew was that the world swung suddenly, crazily. When things settled into place again he was behind the saddle, hanging onto David with both hands, for he had become the stable centre of an otherwise highly mobile world.

“Well, you’ve got the first part right,” David said dryly.

“What?”

“You’re hanging on.”

He started to speak, only to make a high startled sound when the horse moved. Brego snorted and sidestepped lightly.

“Go easy on the screaming,” David said. “Brego is skittish. That’s how we got into trouble in the first place.

“You screamed?” Orlando retorted.

David turned around enough to look at Orlando. His narrowed eyes gleamed like gems between his thick eyelashes, but Orlando would have sworn that his look was one of amusement rather than anger. Orlando decided that he liked that particular gleam in David’s eyes much better than the icy distance that was David’s normal response to the world.

Then David’s glance shifted to his mouth and Orlando remembered the instant when their lips had met. Orlando’s heart hesitated before it beat with increased speed.

“Does that quick little tongue of yours ever get you in trouble?” he asked finally.

The intriguing rasp was back in David’s voice, making Orlando shiver.

“Only with you,” Orlando admitted. “Normally I’m rather quiet. But I love the sound of your voice, especially when it gets all slow and deep. Like now.”

David’s eyes narrowed even more, all amusement gone, replaced by something as elemental as a wolf’s howl. The searching intensity of David’s glance made Orlando shiver. He turned away abruptly.

“Can baby lead us to the cabin?” David asked harshly.

“Yes.”

“Then tell him to do it.”

“Lead us home, Baby. _Home._ ”

Baby turned and began trotting along the base of the scree slope. David turned Brego to follow the wolf’s tracks. The instant the horse began moving, Orlando made a stifled sound and clung very tightly to David. David looked down, saw Orlando’s arms wrapped around him, saw hands that were slender and elegant even inside gloves, knew that the hard rise of his flesh was only inches from those agile hands, and tried not to swear aloud at the ungovernable rushing of his blood.

For several minutes there was a silence that was at least as comfortable as David was.

“David?”

He grunted.

“I wasn’t making fun of your voice.”

“I know.”

“Then why are you angry?”

David hesitated, then shrugged. “Some kinds of honesty are dangerous, Orlando.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Drop your hand a few inches and you’ll understand just fine.”

David’s voice was remote, clipped. His hand dropped, brushing lightly across David’s jeans. When Orlando realized what he meant, he was glad David couldn’t see his blazing cheeks. But beneath his embarrassment was shock. When David told him he lived every instant as though it were his last, he had meant it, and the proof was just below Orlando’s outstretched fingertips.

“Makes a person wonder what it would take to cool you off.” Orlando muttered against David’s back, certain he wouldn’t be able to hear.

David did, of course.

“Hell of a question,” David retorted. “Sure you want to hear an answer?”

Orlando opened his mouth for an incautious reply, only to think better of it at the last instant. Before Orlando closed his mouth, he felt the unanticipated, fragile chill of snowflakes dissolving on his tongue. His eyes closed and he held his breath, waiting for the exquisite sensation to be repeated. As he waited, the world swayed gently beneath him and his arms clung to the living column of strength that was David.

Suddenly Orlando had a dizzying sense of the wonder of being alive and riding through a white storm holding on to a man who’s last name he didn’t even know, while snowflakes melted on his lips like secret kisses. Orlando laughed softly and tipped his face back to the sky, giving himself to the miracle of being alive.

The sound of Orlando laughing made David turn toward him involuntarily, drawn by the life burning so vividly in Orlando. David looked at Orlando with a hunger that would have shocked him if he had seen it, but Orlando’s eyes were closed beneath the tiny biting caress of snowflakes. When his eyes opened once more, David had already turned away.

“David?”

David made a rough, questioning sound.

“What’s your last name?”

“Wenham.”

“Wenham,” Orlando murmured, savouring the name as though it were a snowflake freshly fallen onto his tongue. “What do you do when you’re not rescuing people or falling down mountains, David Wenham?”

“I’m _Segundo_ on the Double L when Billy is there; when he’s not I’m ramrod.”

“ _Segundo_? Ramrod? Are we speaking the same language?”

The corner of David’s mouth lifted slightly. “A ramrod is a ranch foreman. A Segundo is the ramrod’s right-hand man. Billy is my brother.”

“Same Billy as in the bar?”

“Same.” David nodded.

“Is the Double L your family ranch?”

“After a fashion. Billy bought into the ranch when Viggo’s father was trying to drink himself to death. When he succeeded, Billy found Viggo. Viggo married his wife Liv not much later. I own a chunk of Fangorn Canyon; Billy gave it to me for a wedding gift.”

For a few moments, Orlando was too stunned to breathe. “You’re married?” he asked faintly.

“It was Billy and Dominic’s wedding…of sorts. Not mine.”

“They gave you a present on their wedding day?” Orlando asked carefully.

David nodded.

“Why?”

“It’s a long story.”

“I’m very patient.”

“Could have fooled me.”

“I doubt much fools you,” Orlando said matter-of-factly.

David thought of the instant he had seen Orlando coming toward him in a smoky bar and his whole body reached out to Orlando with a primitive need that had shocked David. But he would have been a fool to talk about that, and David was no fool.

“Dominic was a friend of Liv’s,” David said. “He was an archaeologist sent to study Arwen Canyon. He fell in love with my brother, and my brother with him. I helped them to find their daughter. They gave me a chunk of land as a wedding present.”

The hint of a drawl in David’s voice told Orlando that he was being given the short story. Orlando didn’t mind. He liked that thought that he could arouse any conversation in David.

“Why do I feel you left something out?” Orlando asked.

“Such as?”

“Such as how a Segundo knows the kind of people that can find a daughter for a childless couple.”

“I wasn’t always a Segundo.”

Orlando hesitated. The drawl was definitely gone from David’s voice. Even as Orlando told himself he had no right to pry, he heard himself asking a question.

“What were you before you were a Segundo?”

“What all the men in my family have been – a warrior.”

Vivid images from the fight in Helm’s Deep flashed before Orlando’s eyes, followed by other images. David lying half buried in a rock slide with a rifle in his hand. David checking the rifle’s firing mechanism with a few swift motions before he even tried to stand up. David’s bleak eyes and unsmiling mouth.

 _Warrior_.

It explained a lot. Too much.

The vivid joy in life that Orlando had experienced moments before drained away, leaving an intense sadness in its place. Orlando’s arms tightened protectively around David’s powerful body as though he could somehow keep whatever might hurt David at bay. When Orlando realized what he was doing, he didn’t know whether to laugh or to weep at his own idiocy. David needed protecting about as much as a bolt of lightening did.

But unlike lightning, David could bleed and cry. And he had. Orlando knew it as surely as he knew that he was alive.

Breathing David’s name, Orlando moved his face against the cool suede of David’s Shearling jacket, wiping away the tears that fell when he thought of what David must have endured in the years before he went to work for the Double L. The knowledge of his pain reached Orlando as nothing had since the death of his little sister during Alaska’s long, frigid night.

David felt the surprising strength of Orlando’s arms holding him, heard his name breathed like a prayer into the swirling storm, and sensed the aching depth of Orlando’s emotions. Without stopping to ask why, David brought one of Orlando’s gloved hands to his cheek and rubbed slowly. With a ragged sigh Orlando relaxed against him, his hand brushing soothingly against David’s chest.

For several minutes there was no sound but the whispering of snowflakes over the land, the creak of cold leather, and the muffled hoof beats of the two horses as David held them to Baby’s clear trail. When David saw the outline of the cabin rising from the swirling veils of snow, he removed Orlando’s arms from around him.

“Time to let go, Orlando. You’re home.”

Reluctantly, Orlando released David. He swung his right leg over the front of the saddle, grabbed the saddled horn in his right hand and slid to the ground. Braced by his grip on the saddle horn, David tentatively put weight on his right foot. There was pain, but he had expected it. What mattered was that the foot and ankle took his weight without giving way.

David reached up, lifting Orlando off the horse and lowered him to the icy ground.

“Legs still working?” David asked, holding on to Orlando just in case.

Orlando felt the hard length of David pressed against his body and wondered if he would be able to breathe, much less stand. Orlando nodded his head.

“Good. Go and get a fire going while I take care of the horses.”

“Your foot--”

“Go in and get warm,” David interrupted. “You’d just be in my way.”

Orlando would have argued, but David had already turned around and begun loosening the cinch on Brego’s saddle. As Orlando watched, David removed the heavy saddle easily and set it aside. There was a hesitation when David walked that reminded Orlando of Baby- injured, but hardly disabled.

Besides, David was right. He didn’t have a clue what to do with the horses.

Without a word Orlando removed his backpack and jacket, shook snow from them and went into the cabin. Baby followed Orlando in and went immediately to the coldest, draftiest spot in the cabin’s single room. His thick fur had been grown for a Yukon winter. Until he shed some of his undercoat, a fire was redundant.

It took only a moment for Orlando to stir the banked coals to life. That was one of the first things Orlando’s parents had taught him about living in cold country: no matter how long or how short the absence was supposed to be, always leave the hearth in a state of instant readiness for the next fire. No more than a single match should be needed to bring light and warmth to a cabin.

Orlando exchanged his snow boots for fleece-lined moccasins before he went to the ice chest to look for a quick meal. After sorting through the snow he had used to chill the contents, he found a package of chicken. Fresh vegetables were in a cardboard carton. Orlando selected a handful, took the knife from his belt sheath and went to work.

By the time David came in the front door carrying a pair of hiking boots in his hands, the cabin was warm from the fire and fragrant with the smell of chicken and dried herbs simmering together on a tall trivet over it. Orlando looked up as David took off his ski knit cap and rubbed his fingers through his short, copper colored hair. David shrugged out of his thick Shearling jacket, hung it on a nail next to Orlando’s, and walked unevenly toward the fire. Moments later he had removed his single cowboy boot and his socks and was toasting his bare feet by the flames. Bruises shadowed his left foot, which was also reddened from cold.

Orlando set aside the vegetables he had been chopping and knelt next to David’s legs. He took David’s left foot between his hands and went over it with his fingertips, searching for swelling cold spots that could be frostbite, or any other injury.

Silently David’s breath came in and stayed that way. Orlando’s fingers felt like gentle flames caressing his cold skin. Not by so much as a sideways look did Orlando reveal that he knew what his touch was doing to David. The thought that Orlando might be as innocent as he was alluring disturbed David more deeply than his warm fingers.

“I told you I’m fine,” David said. His voice was rough, irritable, for his body was reacting to Orlando’s touch. Again.

“Your idea of fine and mine are different,” Orlando pressed his fingertips around a swelling. “Hurt?”

“No.”

Orlando examined David’s toes critically. Other than being cold, they showed no damage. Orlando let go of David’s foot. Before David could prevent it, he had pressed his hand against David’s forehead. His temperature brought a frown to Orlando’s face. Orlando put his other hand against his own forehead for comparison.

“You’re running a fever,” Orlando said.

David grunted. He had been running a fever for the past hour or more. Billy had been right. He should have stayed out of the mountains. But David hadn’t been able to. He had been too restless to stick around the Double L’s tame winter pastures.

“Are you planning on riding out into the storm as soon as your feet warm up?” Orlando asked evenly, removing his hand from David’s forehead. “Or are you going to be sensible and wait it out here?”

A pale blue glance fixed on Orlando with searching intensity. The warning David had spoken to him once before, hung in the air between them: _Stay away from me Orlando. I want you more than all the men in that bar put together._

“Aren’t you nervous about being alone with me in a cabin at the end of the world?” David asked softly.

“No.”

“You damned well should be.”

“Why?”

David said something rude under his breath.

“I know you want me,” Orlando said simply. “I also know you won’t rape me. And not because of Baby. The way you fight, you could probably take care of a pack of wolves. But if I said no, you wouldn’t so much as touch me. Even if I said yes…” Orlando shrugged.

“You have more faith in me than I do.”

Orlando’s smile was as beautiful as it was sad. “Yes, I know.” He stood and went back to chopping vegetables.

Broodingly, David looked around the cabin. Once it had been a base camp for hunters who were less interested in decorator touches than in solid shelter from storms. In the far corner of the room, next to Baby, there was a small pot-bellied stove. A section of chimney pipe was missing. Obviously Orlando had decided it would be easier to stay warm near the big fieldstone hearth than to fix the stove’s broken chimney.

Narrowed blue eyes inventoried the contents of the room in a sweeping glance that missed nothing. Bedroll and mattress laid out, clothes either hung on nails or put neatly into the rough-hewn dresser, kitchen implements stacked in overturned cartons, camp chairs, a small can of oil set near the kitchen pump, bucket of water to prime the pump, a kerosene lantern as well as a battery model; it was apparent that Orlando was at home in the Spartan shelter.

Orlando walked across the room, pushed a thick, faded curtain aside, and looked out. Snow was coming down thick and hard. Saying nothing, he let himself out of the cabin’s only door and closed it behind him. Instantly Baby came to his feet and went to stand by the door. A minute later the door opened again. Orlando came in, dragging David’s packsacks behind him. He kicked the door shut.

Without the awkwardness of wearing only one cowboy boot to hamper him, David moved with startling speed and the slightest limp. He took Orlando’s hands from the canvas packsacks.

“Put your bed near the hearth,” Orlando said. “The cabin gets cold by dawn.”

“Next time let me get my own gear. These sacks are too heavy for you.”

Orlando gave him a look out of chocolate eyes that were almost black with the reflected flames. “You’ve been hurt and you’re running a fever,” Orlando said with careful patience. “That makes us about even in the strength department.”

“Crap,” David said succinctly.

With no visible effort he lifted both sacks, walked across the room and dumped the sacks to one side of the hearth. Orlando stared. He knew how heavy those sacks were. He’d had a hard time simply dragging them into the cabin.

“Okay, I was wrong,” Orlando said, throwing up his hands. “You can jump tall buildings in a single bound and catch bullets in your bare hands.”

“Bare teeth,” David said without looking up.

“What?”

“You catch bullets with your teeth.”

“ _You_ may,” Orlando retorted, “But I’m not that stupid.”

“The hell you aren’t.” David lifted his head and pinned Orlando with a cougar’s pale blue glance. “You’re alone in the middle of a snowstorm with a man who gets hard every time you lick your lips. And you _trust_ me. That, boy, is damned stupid.”

[ Chapter 6](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1630.html)   



	6. Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists <6/31>

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has pushed and prodded me into working on this. Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/).

_  
**Western Lovers:Cowboys & Biologists (6/31)**   
_   
  
[   
](http://photobucket.com)

**Title:** Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists  <6/31>  
 **Author:**[](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/profile)[ **sassywitch**](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/)  
 **Beta** the patient and talented [](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/profile)[**charlieisagirl**](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/)  
 **Pairing:** OB/DW  
 **Rating:** NC-17 for the series, PG-13 this chapter.  
 **Summary:** David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.  
 **Feedback:** Feedback is my writers crack, which is not to be confused at all with plumbers crack.  
 **Disclaimer:** Not at all true in reality. These men whilst adorable and perfectly happy to slash themselves, their actual relationship is something that they only know. This story is adapted from a series of books that I adored when I was younger written by Elizabeth Lowell.  
 **Word Count:** 3581  
 **Previous Story:** Can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1656893.html)  
 **Previous Ordaisy chapter:** As suggested by [](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/profile)[**mystery_ink**](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/) can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1650642.html)  
 **Previous Chapters:** [ Chapter 1](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/353.html)|[ Chapter 2](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/597.html) |[ Chapter 3](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/910.html)|[ Chapter 4](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1032.html)|[ Chapter 5](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1359.html)

 **Posted to:** [](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/profile)[**fellowshippers**](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/) , [](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/profile)[**monaboyd**](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/) and [](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/profile)[**ordaisy**](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/)  
 **Header Art:** Courtesy of the incredibly talented [](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/profile)[**loki_girl**](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/).  
 **Author’s Notes:** Thank you to everyone who has pushed and prodded me into working on this. Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/).

~*~*~*~*~*

Sensing that something was wrong, Orlando awoke with a start. In the silent spaces between gusts of wind, Orlando heard a man speaking in broken phrases, fragmented names, snatches of language that had no rational meaning. But they made sense emotionally. Someone was hurt, trapped, dying…

And it was happening over and over again.

 _David._

Quickly Orlando sat up and looked across the hearth to the place where David had set up his bedroll and mattress. The room was so dark that Orlando could see only an outline, a darker black that indicated that David was still there. The cold in the room was the penetrating chill of a winter that would not release the land into spring’s life-giving embrace.

Without leaving his sleeping bag, Orlando stirred the fire into life and added fuel. Flames surged up, bringing light and heart into the room. A swift glance told Orlando that David was only half-covered, restless, caught in the grip of fever or nightmare or both.

Orlando unzipped his sleeping bag and slid out. His double-layer, silk and wool ski underwear turned aside the worst of the chill, but the floor was icy on Orlando’s bare feet. Silently he knelt next to David, watching the contours of his face emerge from the darkness as flames licked over the wood.

A combination of stark shadows, golden beard, shifting orange flames and physical tension drew David’s features into lines as harsh as they were compelling to Orlando’s senses. David’s torso was lean, muscular, highlighted by fire and golden swirls of hair. He wore no shirt, nothing to keep the cold at bay.

Orlando knelt at David’s side. As he had earlier in the day, he put his hand on David’s forehead to gauge his temperature.

The world exploded.

Within the space of two seconds Orlando was jerked over David’s body, thrown on his back and stretched helplessly on the icy floor beneath David’s far greater weight while a hot steel band closed around Orlando’s throat. In the wavering light David’s eyes were those of a trapped cougar, luminous with fire, bottomless with shadow, inhuman.

“ _David…_ ” Orlando whispered, all he could say, for the room was spinning away into darkness.

Instantly the pressure vanished. Orlando felt the harsh shudder that went through David’s body before he rolled aside, releasing him from David’s weight. Orlando shivered with the cold of the cabin floor biting into his flesh and with another deeper cold: the winter’s chill that lay at the center of David’s soul.

“Next time you want to wake me up, just call my name. Whatever you do, don’t touch me. Ever.”

David’s voice was as remote as his eyes had been.

“That’s the problem, isn’t it?” Orlando asked after a moment, his voice husky.

“What?”

“Touching. You haven’t had enough of it. Not the caring kind, the warm kind, the gentle kind. The kind filled with the love you deserve.”

“Warmth is rare and temporary. Cruelty and pain aren’t. A survivor hones his reflexes accordingly. I’m a survivor, Orlando. Don’t ever forget it. If you catch me off guard I could hurt you badly and never even mean to.”

Orlando closed his eyes and shivered against the icy cold. Suddenly he felt himself lifted again. Orlando made a startled sound and stiffened.

“It’s all right,” David said calmly. “I’m wide-awake now. Turn your face towards the fire.”

The difference in temperature between the floor and David’s bed was disorienting. Orlando let out a broken sigh of relief at the warmth and turned his face toward the dancing flames. When he felt David’s hand at his throat once more, Orlando gave him a startled look. David didn’t notice. He was carefully peeling down the mock-turtleneck collar of Orlando’s undershirt. Gently David’s hand slid up beneath Orlando’s chin, urging his gaze more fully toward the fire.

As Orlando turned, a necklace of fine leather thong spilled from the scarlet fabric into David’s hand, drawn by the weight of charms and stones that Orlando wore as a pendant. The shimmer of metal caught his eye. David looked more closely and saw that metallic shimmer was a ring made of fine strands of smoothly braided gold. When he realized the ring was too small to be worn by anyone but a very young child, David tipped his palm and let the gold slide away.

Firelight revealed no marks on the creamy, golden surface of Orlando’s throat. With devastating gentleness, David’s fingertips traced the taut tendons and soft skin. The startled intake of Orlando’s breath followed by the visible, rapid surge of his pulse made David’s body tighten in a wild, sweeping rush that was becoming familiar to him around Orlando.

Even as David told himself he should be grateful that Orlando’s response to him came from fear rather than desire, David knew that he wasn’t grateful. He wanted nothing so much as to soothe with his tongue the tender flesh he had savaged, and then go on to find even warmer, more tender flesh and know its sweetness as well.

But even if he were fool enough to start something he wasn’t going to finish, Orlando wouldn’t be fool enough to want him. Orlando finally understood what David was: a warrior, not a knight in shining armor.

Orlando trembled again.

“Don’t worry. I won’t hurt you now,” David said.

The subdued rasp in his voice was like a hidden caress, making Orlando ache to know more of his touch.

“I know,” Orlando whispered.

“Do you? You’re trembling.”

“I’m not used to…this.”

“Take my word for it,” David said sardonically. “Nearly being strangled isn’t the sort of thing you get used to.” David’s fingertips probed lightly at Orlando’s skin. “Tender?”

Orlando shook his head.

“Does it hurt when you talk?” David asked.

“No.”

“Are you sure?”

Orlando nodded.

“I don’t believe you.”

“But it’s true,” Orlando said. “You didn’t hurt me.”

The throaty intimacy of Orlando’s voice made David burn. Very carefully he lifted his hand from Orlando’s warm skin. He sat up in a tangle of sleeping bag and blankets, bringing Orlando upright with him. The easy way he handled Orlando’s weight served to underline his strength and Orlando’s vulnerability--a vulnerability Orlando stubbornly refused to acknowledge.

As David released Orlando, he reached up and put his palm on David’s forehead. David jerked back.

“You were lucky, Orlando. Very Lucky. Don’t push it.”

“You should take your own advice.”

David gave Orlando a narrow look. “Meaning?”

“You’re running a fever, but you plan on getting up at dawn and riding out of here.”

David shrugged. “I’ll see what it looks like in the morning.”

“White.” Orlando said succinctly.

“What?”

“It will look white. All of it. Even if it stops snowing, you won’t be able to tell. The wind will strip off the new snow and blow it everywhere. White on white, sky and ground, everything and everywhere. If you don’t believe me, listen to the wind. You would be a fool to go anywhere tomorrow, and survivors aren’t fools.”

David turned and looked at Orlando with unfathomable eyes. “Get back in your own bed. Fever or no fever, there’s nothing you can do for me.”

After a long tight moment, Orlando took his sleeping bag back to his bed, crawled in and shivered until he was warm once more.

“David?”

David grunted.

“What were you dreaming about?”

“Was I dreaming?”

“Yes. That’s what woke me up.”

Silence.

“Do you dream like that often?” Orlando persisted.

“I don’t know.”

“How can you not know?”

“Survivors don’t remember their dreams. That’s how we stay sane.”

David rolled over and was asleep within moments.

Orlando lay awake for a long time, thinking about survivors and listening to the wind rearrange layers of snow over the frozen land.

[ Chapter 7](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2014.html)   



	7. Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists <7/31>

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has pushed and prodded me into working on this. Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/).

_  
**Western Lovers:Cowboys & Biologists (7/31)**   
_   
  
[   
](http://photobucket.com)

**Title:** Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists  <7/31>  
 **Author:**[](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/profile)[ **sassywitch**](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/)  
 **Beta** the patient and talented [](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/profile)[**charlieisagirl**](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/)  
 **Pairing:** OB/DW  
 **Rating:** NC-17 for the series, PG-13 this chapter.  
 **Summary:** David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.  
 **Feedback:** Feedback is my writers crack, which is not to be confused at all with plumbers crack.  
 **Disclaimer:** Not at all true in reality. These men whilst adorable and perfectly happy to slash themselves, their actual relationship is something that they only know. This story is adapted from a series of books that I adored when I was younger written by Elizabeth Lowell.  
 **Word Count:** 2587  
 **Previous Story:** Can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1656893.html)  
 **Previous Ordaisy chapter:** As suggested by [](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/profile)[**mystery_ink**](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/) can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1650642.html)  
 **Previous Chapters:** [ Chapter 1](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/353.html)|[ Chapter 2](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/597.html) |[ Chapter 3](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/910.html)|[ Chapter 4](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1032.html)|[ Chapter 5](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1359.html)|[ Chapter 6](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1630.html)

  
 **Posted to:** [](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/profile)[**fellowshippers**](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/) , [](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/profile)[**monaboyd**](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/) and [](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/profile)[**ordaisy**](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/)  
 **Header Art:** Courtesy of the incredibly talented [](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/profile)[**loki_girl**](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/).  
 **Author’s Notes:** Thank you to everyone who has pushed and prodded me into working on this. Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/).

~*~*~*~*~*

“Baby, give them to me,” Orlando coaxed.

Baby moved to just beyond Orlando’s reaching fingers. Yellow eyes gleamed with unmistakable mischief. From either side of Baby’s long muzzle dangled David’s socks. Plainly the wolf had no intention of giving up his prize.

Orlando made a sudden grab. Baby danced backward and half-crouched, his muzzle on his front paws, his hind quarters in the air, his tail waving in delight at having suckered his master into playing with him.

David looked up from stacking firewood next to the hearth where the heat could dry out wood newly brought in from the snow.

“Good thing I have extra socks,” David said. “Look’s like that pair is a goner.”

“Baby knows better, at least with my socks,” Orlando said, exasperated. “Guess he figures yours were fair game. Baby, _drop_.”

Yellow eyes met chocolate ones for a long moment. With a startlingly human look of disappointment, Baby opened his mouth. Socks dropped to the floor, no worse for the time spent in a wolf’s jaws. Orlando picked up the socks, tossed them in David’s direction, and rubbed both hands through Baby’s thick neck fur, praising him for giving up his prize. Baby burrowed into Orlando’s touch in return, stroking himself against Orlando like a huge cat, plainly enjoying the physical contact.

David watched through hooded eyes, oddly moved by the sight of the big, frankly savage-looking beast being petted by a man who weighed less than the animal did and was considerably less well equipped to defend himself. As Orlando buried his face in the wolf’s fur, it didn’t seem to occur to him that those long jaws and steel muscles could tear him apart.

 _You’re a fool, Orlando Bloom. A sweet, naïve, trusting fool, but a fool just the same. You trust too much. You trust **me** too much._

Baby made a sound that was a cross between a chesty growl and a throaty yap as he crouched again, waving his tail, vibrating with a desperate need for energetic play after being penned up by the storm. Orlando laughed and shoved against Baby with both hands, sending him skidding across the smooth wooden floor. With a powerful scrambling of legs and scratching of nearly sheathed claws, Baby stopped his backward motion and romped towards Orlando, who was braced on hands and knees, waiting for Baby’s charge. Instead of running into Orlando head-on, Baby turned at the last instant, buffeting Orlando with his shoulder instead.

If Orlando hadn’t been prepared, he would have been bowled over, but this was an old game for the two of them. Orlando gave as good as he got, throwing his weight behind his shoulder as Baby raced by, sending him scrambling for purchase on the slick wood floor. Orlando barely had a chance to recover his own balance before Baby was back for more. He survived a few more glancing passes before Baby’s greater strength and co-ordination sent him rolling.

Instantly Baby pivoted, scrambled for traction and started after his laughing master. Orlando had just enough time to brace himself again before more than a hundred and forty pounds of muscle and fur bounded into him. Orlando shoved hard against Baby, knowing he was going to go spinning again but determined to give Baby a good tussle.

Before Baby’s shoulder could connect with Orlando, he was lifted and set down behind David. The wolf hit him instead. Two strong hands shoved hard against steel muscles and thick fur. Baby went spinning and sliding across the cabin floor. He recovered, gave David a look of glittering delight, and came full tilt across the cabin floor toward the men.

This time David waited on all fours as Orlando had. Muscular shoulder met muscular shoulder; Baby rebounded and went sliding and scrambling across the floor. When Baby regained his balance, he gave David a laughing, long-tongued grin and charged once more, holding back nothing of his strength as he had earlier in the game with Orlando.

“You’re in for it now, David,” Orlando crowed breathlessly. “Baby hasn’t had a decent wrestling match since Mark broke his arm, so Baby’s loaded for bear – and with that sleek, sexy beard, you’re looking like bear to him.”

Just as David turned to ask who Mark was, Baby sprang. David went down in a tangle of arms, furry legs and waving black tail. Laughing hard at David’s comeuppance, trying to catch his breath at the same time, Orlando sank onto his bed and applauded while wolf and warrior romped.

And a romp it was. David and Baby careened off ice chest and walls, supply sacks and packsaddle, firewood and empty water bucket. The room became a shambles of its former neat condition. Yet no matter how fast or exciting the wrestling became, both wolf and warrior kept their individual weapons carefully sheathed. Fangs never sank into flesh, nor did steel fingers gouge. Claws might rake the floor, but nothing else. Unarmed combat tactics remained unused.

Finally David wrestled baby to the floor and pinned him there, both of them breathing hard. The wolf relaxed, baring his throat and belly to the warrior, accepting the end of the game. David shook Baby gently by the scruff, spoke to him calmly and released him. Baby sprang up, shook himself thoroughly, and stood panting and grinning up at David. The left side of David’s mouth kicked up slightly, the wolf’s head in his hands, rubbing the base of the erect ears and smoothing the thick fur.

“You’re one hell of a fighter, old man.” David said quietly.

Baby’s head turned. Big jaws gently closed over David’s right hand, then released him.

“That’s meant to reassure you,” Orlando explained in a soft voice. “It’s a wolf’s kiss. Wolves aren’t quite the same as dogs. They require different things from their friends, whether four-footed or two.”

“What should I do to reassure him in return?”

“You already have.”

“How?”

“You accepted his surrender, let him go with his dignity intact, and then praised him with your touch and your voice.” Orlando paused thoughtfully. “You read Baby very well, David. Have you ever worked with undomesticated animals?”

“All my life.”

“Really? What kind?”

“Men.”

Orlando started to laugh before he realized that there was more truth than humor in what David said. Then he laughed anyway, a bittersweet and very human laughter, accepting what could not be changed in the nature of man and beast.

“Maybe if men had their signals of dominance and submission as well worked out as wolves,” Orlando said, “there would be fewer wars.”

“I suspect we had our signals straight once. Then we went and got all civilized and sent it all to hell.”

David stood and stretched. His glance fell on the upside-down water bucket, the packsaddle standing on end, and other signs of the romp. The corners of his eyes crinkled slightly.

“Looks like I have my work cut out for me before we go cat hunting,” David said.

Orlando’s breath caught. He smiled brilliantly and said in a husky voice, “Thank you.”

David gave him a sideways glance. “For not leaving you to clean up the mess?”

“No,” Orlando said, dismissing the room with a wave of his hand. “For staying here one more day. I know you think I’m insane for worrying about you, but I’m not. Spring, especially in cold country, is the hardest season on animals. No matter how strong you are, the huge temperature swings stress your body. I’ve seen flu turn into pneumonia…” Orlando’s voice rasped, almost broke and then steadied. “Anyway if you had ridden off today I would have worried. Now I’ll know where you are and if your fever really is gone.”

“And if I’ve managed to stay on top of Brego this time?” David asked dryly.

Orlando’s laugh was as soft as the dusky curls that bounced around his face. He started to speak but could think of nothing to say but the truth.

“I’m glad you’re staying, David. Not just for my peace of mind either. Even with fresh snow, no wind, and Baby’s nose, finding cougars out there won’t be easy. I suspect you’re a good tracker.”

“I get by.”

The buried drawl in David’s voice told Orlando that he was amused by something. Orlando smiled slightly. “I’ll just bet you do. You don’t miss much do you?”

“No.”

Orlando didn’t need to be told anymore. David had lived on the razor edge of awareness for so long that he had forgotten there was any other way to live.

“I’ll put your skills to work every chance I get,” Orlando said. “There’s so little time.”

“I heard you’d be here ‘til the end of the season. At least, I heard the government cat expert would be here. That’s you, isn’t it?”

“After a fashion, but probably there will be more than one cat expert coming and going. My grant money is private, administered through the university at Boulder, but I’m working in conjunction with a federal study of cougars. The whole study will cover a decade. My part will last only as long as the tracking snows do, unless I find a female that’s denned up with cubs. Then I might be able to stretch things for a few more months.”

David bent over, righted the packsaddle with an easy motion and asked, “What is your part?”

“A feasibility study.”

“Of what?”

“Whether it’s possible to monitor cougars without drugging them, putting on bulky radio collars, and then turning the cats loose to lead a supposedly normal life.”

“Yeah, I always wondered how many animals the scientists lost that way,” David said dryly. “Drugs are tricky things, especially with cats. As for the radio collars…”

He shrugged, bent over a bedroll and began putting it back together with the smooth, efficient motions of a man who has done a task so often he no longer has to think about it. Orlando worked alongside David, watching him from the corners of his eyes, fascinated by David’s unconscious grace and his casual acceptance of his own physical strength.

“What about the radio collars?” Orlando asked, realizing that David had stopped talking and was watching Orlando watch him.

“I’m no specialist,” David said, looking away from Orlando, straightening a blanket with a casual snap of his wrist, “But I’ve noticed one thing about animals. If there’s anything different about an animal, the others shun him. Or they attack him. Makes me wonder if anyone has thought about that when they wrap a few pounds of radio collar around a wild animal and turn it loose. Then the specialists come back every few days or weeks in a helicopter or a small plane and buzz the hell out of the local wildlife trying to track down the radio collar’s signal.”

“Somebody around here must have thought about it,” Orlando said. He knelt and began stacking firewood. “Dr Holm said my particular part of the grant money came from one of the local ranchers.” Suddenly Orlando turned and looked at David. “Was it you?”

David hesitated fractionally in the act of righting the water bucket, then shrugged and said, “I’m a cowhand, not a rancher. Viggo and Billy own the land.”

Orlando waited, certain that he was right. Only someone who respected and understood wildlife would have given money for a study that didn’t disrupt the animals’ normal lives. It was obvious that David felt an unusual affinity for wild animals. He had never seen Baby take to a person with such ease.

“Both Viggo and Billy admire the cougars, but they have their hands full raising kids and cattle,” David continued. “And at the same time, they’re protecting and excavating some Anasazi sites at Arwen Canyon. On a ranch there’s never enough money to do everything that should be done.”

“So you paid for part of the grant.”

Again, David shrugged. “The cougars are staging a comeback around here. Now, I believe the cats live on wild food rather than on Double L beef, but I couldn’t prove it, even though I spent a lot of time chasing cats when I should have been chasing cattle. So I took some of the money I made in my last life and told the university to find an expert who could study our cougars without drugging or harassing them.”

“I won’t drug the cats,” Orlando nodded. “But having Baby on their trail might constitute harassment.”

David’s mouth shifted subtly beneath his beard. He reached down and ruffled the wolf’s sleek fur. Baby leaned into the touch, enjoying it.

“Dogs have been chasing cats at least as long as men have been chasing women,” David said, giving Orlando a brief, sidelong look. “I think the cats might even get a kick out of a good race. Cougars will run like hell, but once they’re up in a tree, they relax. Hell, I’ve seen more than one cougar curl up for a nap in some tall timber while a pack of hounds went crazy barking down below.” Frowning thoughtfully, David turned away from scratching Baby’s ears. “That reminds me--does Baby ever bark?”

“Rarely.”

David’s mouth flattened. “Then you’ve got the wrong hunting dog no matter how good Baby’s nose is. A cougar will run from a barking dog, even if it’s no bigger than a Scottish terrier. But a dog that doesn’t bark will be attacked no matter how big it is.”

“Don’t worry. Cats are the exception to Baby’s code of silence. When he’s on a hot cat trail, Baby makes more noise than a pack of foxhounds.”

“Good.” David looked around the room. “That leaves just one other thing to settle before we go hunting. Who’s Mark?”

Orlando looked up, surprised by the sudden edge in David’s voice. “What?”

“Baby’s wrestling partner,” David said flatly. “The man who broke his arm.”

“Oh. That Mark. He’s my brother.”

David grunted. “How many Marks do you know?”

“Just two.”

David waited, watching Orlando with pale blue eyes as he stacked the last piece of firewood, stood up and dusted his hands on his pants.

“The second Mark was my boyfriend for a time,” he continued. “Then he discovered being lifelong friends wasn’t the same thing as really wanting a relationship. He took one look at Simon and knew something important had been missing from our relationship. They were living together a month later.”

David had had a lot of practice reading people. He saw no indications of distress in Orlando as he talked about his broken relationship. His voice was even, supple, almost amused. Not at all the way it had been when he discussed flu turning into pneumonia.

“You sound like you didn’t mind losing Mark to another man,” David said, walking slowly across the room toward Orlando.

“I didn’t love him. We’re still friends.”

Skepticism showed in the arch of David’s ginger eyebrows. Orlando watched with widening eyes as David came closer and then closer still, not stopping until he was so close that Orlando could feel the heat from his body.

“It’s true,” Orlando said, puzzled by David’s intensity. “Mark and I are still friends.”

“Then you were never lovers.”

Orlando made a soft, startled sound deep in his throat. “How did you know?”

“Easy. Once a man had you, he’d want you again and again, with every breath he took.” David shrugged, but the silver-blue intensity of his eyes didn’t diminish. “Which means Mark never had you, because he let you go.”  
[ Chapter 8](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2254.html)|  



	8. Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists <8/31>

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has pushed and prodded me into working on this. Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/).

_  
**Western Lovers:Cowboys & Biologists (8/31)**   
_   
  
[   
](http://photobucket.com)

**Title:** Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists  <8/31>  
 **Author:**[](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/profile)[ **sassywitch**](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/)  
 **Beta** the patient and talented [](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/profile)[**charlieisagirl**](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/)  
 **Pairing:** OB/DW  
 **Rating:** NC-17 for the series, PG-13 this chapter.  
 **Summary:** David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.  
 **Feedback:** Feedback is my writers crack, which is not to be confused at all with plumbers crack.  
 **Disclaimer:** Not at all true in reality. These men whilst adorable and perfectly happy to slash themselves, their actual relationship is something that they only know. This story is adapted from a series of books that I adored when I was younger written by Elizabeth Lowell.  
 **Word Count:** 2974  
 **Previous Story:** Can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1656893.html)  
 **Previous Ordaisy chapter:** As suggested by  < lj user="mystery_ink"> can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1650642.html)  
 **Previous Chapters:** [ Chapter 1](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/353.html)|[ Chapter 2](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/597.html) |[ Chapter 3](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/910.html)|[ Chapter 4](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1032.html)|[ Chapter 5](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1359.html)|[ Chapter 6](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1630.html)|[ Chapter 7](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2014.html)

  
 **Posted to:** [](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/profile)[**fellowshippers**](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/) , [](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/profile)[**monaboyd**](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/) and [](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/profile)[**ordaisy**](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/)  
 **Header Art:** Courtesy of the incredibly talented [](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/profile)[**loki_girl**](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/).  
 **Author’s Notes:** Thank you to everyone who has pushed and prodded me into working on this. Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/).

~*~*~*~*~*

The elemental harmonics of a wolf’s howl shivered over the land before dissipating on the wind. David froze, listening with every fiber of his body. The sound came again, rising and falling, a song sung to the primal memories that existed in every human soul. The eerie ululation faded into the wind. Silence reigned once more.

“A wolf’s howl has to be one of the most beautiful sounds on earth,” David said in a hushed voice.

Orlando didn’t disagree. He had heard only one thing more compelling- David’s deep voice when he looked at him and told him that any man who had him would never let him go. Even now Orlando could hardly believe David had said it, had meant it, and then turned away, picked up his rifle and calmly asked if he was ready to go hunting.

The memories made Orlando’s fingers tremble as he cupped his hands around his mouth and answered Baby with a call that was more musical than a shout and less structured than a yodel. When he finished, David was looking at his expectantly.

“Baby’s just checking in,” Orlando explained. “Now we know where he is and he knows where we are. No cats, though.”

David nodded. “He won’t hit cougar sign on this side of the stream unless a new cat has moved in since I was here last. Once Baby gets to the other side of the stream, though, it shouldn’t be long before he hits a trail. A young female staked out her territory there two years ago.”

“How young? Did she have cubs?”

“The first year she didn’t mate. But this year there was some real caterwauling around here for the two weeks she and her mate traveled together.” The left corner of David’s mouth lifted a bit and he added blandly, “Seems like the young females always scream the loudest.”

“There’s a reason they scream,” Orlando said before he could think better of it.

“Really? What?”

 _Alright, how am I going to get out of this one?_ Orlando asked himself wryly, caught somewhere between embarrassment and amusement.

“Er, take my word for it.” He said, knowing his cheeks were bright with something more than the burn from the chill wind.

“Give me some words and I’ll see how I take them.”

“Better yet,” Orlando said quickly, thinking of a graceful exit from the topic, “I’ll give you a textbook on cat anatomy.”

“Did you bring it with you?”

Orlando sighed. “No.”

“Then we’re back to words.”

Orlando suspected that he was being teased. David’s eyes had a definite crinkle at the corners. He took a deep breath, reminded himself that he and David were both adults, and began speaking as though he were in a graduate seminar.

“Male cats are built to begin, but not to end, copulation. Therefore, disengagement must be rather uncomfortable for the females.”

David gave Orlando a sideways glance. “I must be missing something.”

“Barbs,” he said succinctly.

The sleek gold of David’s beard shifted a bit as his mouth quirked, but he said only, “Can’t be all that bad—”

“Spoken like a true alpha male,” Orlando muttered.

“—Because the older females keep coming back for more.” David finished, ignoring Orlando’s interruption.

Orlando saw the gleam in David’s eyes and knew that David was teasing him. He struggled not to laugh. It was impossible. The wicked light in David’s eyes reminded him of Baby’s when he had danced up to him with a mouthful of forbidden socks and lured him into play.

David listened to the rippling warmth of Orlando’s laughter and silently decided that it was even more beautiful than a wolf’s wild song. David fought the impulse to put an arm around Orlando and hug him to his side, and then to bend down and taste plump lips that had been tormenting him at every moment.

 _I should have left yesterday, storm or no storm. If I stay much longer I’m going to reach out and take what I need more than air._

 _Having Orlando would be like sinking into fire, all hot and clean and wild, no boundaries, no restraints, nothing but the two of us and the fire burning higher and higher._

A wolf’s howl leaped and twisted in the wild silence, calling to them, demanding their attention.

“He’s found cat sign!” He looked eagerly around the landscape, trying to decide on the quickest route to Baby. “It could be bobcat, I suppose.”

“I’m betting it isn’t,” David said promptly, heading toward the creek. “There’s a big old fir on top of that rise. The lady cougar likes to lie up beneath the lowest limbs and watch the land.”

“Hurry.” Orlando said, following. “Once Baby starts running, we may not see him again until he’s ready to come into the cabin and chew the ice out from between his toes.”

David moved swiftly down the slope toward the creek that gleamed blackly between low banks of snow. Despite the snow that had fallen yesterday, neither David nor Orlando needed the snowshoes they had tied to their backpacks. Only in the steepest ravines or in the densest forest was snow-pack more than six inches deep. Yesterday’s storm had filled in minor hollows and ripples, leaving behind a pristine surface that took and held tracks as though it had been designed for just that purpose.

Baby howled again. Then came a series of short, excited barks.

“He’s seen the cat!” Orlando said.

“Will he call off?”

“Doubt it. Not after being shut up in a car and then in the cabin.”

David leaped the stream with a lithe power that made Orlando think enviously of a cougar. He judged the distance to the other side and skidded to a stop. If he jumped he’d be asking for an icy dunking on landing and a twisted ankle into the bargain.

“Go on.” Orlando urged. “I’ll catch up as soon as I find a safe way across. Try to get a look at the cat so we can identify it if we see it again. Once they’re forty feet up a tree, cats are damned hard to see, much less identify, even with binoculars.”

David hesitated for only an instant before he took off up the rise toward a big fir tree.

Orlando trotted- and occasionally slid and slithered – along the side of the creek, muttering about boulders concealed by snow and other traps for the unwary. Finally he came to a place where sun or wind or both had cleaned the rocks of snow. He jumped from boulder to boulder across the stream and headed up the rise. Soon he was following David’s tracks.

 _Lord, that man runs like a big cat. No slipping, no struggling for balance, nothing but clean, long-legged strides._

Baby’s barks were faint now, continuous, and very excited.

 _Sounds like the cat is up a tree. That was fast work. Hope David got a good look at it before it was too late._

When Orlando got to the top of the rise, he saw the place where the cougar had been stretched out on the ground beneath a low limb, watching the world in relaxed silence until a loudmouthed black wolf had appeared. Then all hell had cut loose. The cougar – for the size of the tracks left no doubt that a cougar had made them rather than a bobcat – had exploded out of cover, sending a shower of snow from lower branches. The cat had hit its full running stride instantly, racing over the sparsely wooded slope, heading uphill as cats always did when pursued.

Baby’s barking ended abruptly, telling Orlando that David had already caught up. Cocking his head, Orlando listened, heard nothing to indicate that the chase was anything but over, and returned his attention to a particularly fine set of tracks the cougar had left. Baby wasn’t going anywhere now. Neither was the cat. The tracks, however, were at the mercy of the rising wind and the sun. He had to photograph the tracks before they lost their fine, crisp edges.

Automatically Orlando took off his backpack, opened it and went to work. He pulled out camera and ruler, lined up the ruler close to the tracks, adjusted the camera’s macrozoom lens and triggered the shutter. In the forest silence, the _snick, snick, snick_ of the shutter and the faint rubbing of his clothes against the snow when he knelt there were the only sounds. When he was through measuring and photographing the prints, he took out a notebook and began to record information.

Orlando was halfway through a sentence when he had the distinct feeling of being watched. He spun around. David was standing less than an arm’s length away, one shoulder resting against a tree.

“Good Lord, David, you’re a quiet man!”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”

Orlando pushed a deep breath out of his lungs to slow his hammering heart, took a better grip on his pencil and resumed recording his observations.

“Did you get a look at the cougar?” Orlando asked.

“It’s the young female, she wintered well. Coat is thick and smooth, no sign of hesitation in her stride. I can’t be positive, but I think she’s nursing cubs. Her teats were swollen.”

With a startled sound Orlando jammed his notebook and pencil into his jacket pocket. “I’d better go call off Baby. I don’t want a new mother getting panicked.”

David lifted Orlando’s backpack and started back up the trail. “Don’t worry about the cougar. Last time I saw her, she was stretching out on a limb to watch Baby jawing at her from below.”

“Will I be able to see her?” Orlando asked, unable to hide the excitement in his voice.

“Some.”

“How much?”

“The black tip of her long, thick tail.”

“Figures,” Orlando muttered. “Seems like all I ever see of my cats are silent ghosts sliding away at the corner of my eyes.”

When David and Orlando arrived at the fir where Baby was leaping and yapping, not even the tip of a tail was to be seen. Orlando called off Baby and went to work examining the tree through binoculars. Finally he spotted the cougar partway up the big evergreen.

The cat was indeed stretched out along a hefty limb, watching the activity below through half-closed eyes. So well did the cougar screen herself with greenery that Orlando wouldn’t have seen the animal at all if she hadn’t yawned. The motion revealed an astonishing length of pink tongue as well as teeth of intimidating size and sharpness. The yawn ended, the jaws began closing, and the pink tongue vanished.

An instant later, so did the cougar. Occasional tufts of snow rained down, revealing that the cat was still moving somewhere within the drooping, multiple arms of the tree. No matter how hard Orlando looked through the binoculars, he couldn’t see so much as a patch of the cat’s thick, tawny fur.

Baby whined coaxingly, tired of having to be silent.

“Nope.” Orlando said to Baby as he lowered the binoculars. “Fun’s over.” He turned to David. “Are you sure she was nursing?”

“It’s more of a hunch. She’s healthy, but tires fast, even for a cat. She took to the tree real quick, even though Baby wasn’t close to her.” David shrugged and squinted up into the tree with ice blue ices. “I’m no expert, though.”

“I’ll take your instincts over the expertise of anyone I’ve ever worked with. You’re a very noticing kind of man.” Orlando reached for his pack, which David was still holding in one big hand. “Let’s try backtracking from that big fir. If you’re right about her having cubs, she’ll have a den too. Maybe we can find it.”

“It would make our work a lot easier.” David agreed.

Orlando heard the word _our_ and felt a shiver of pleasure travel through his body. But if David realized what he had implied, nothing was revealed on his face.

“The cougars over on the other side of Mortensen Ridge,” he continued, “have much bigger territories. Up here, the countryside supports more deer, so the cats get by with a lot less land. Even so, they can cover twenty, thirty miles a day looking for prey or for a mate or just keeping their boundary markers fresh.”

“Speaking of food, my lunch is in my backpack.” Orlando tugged discretely at one of the straps David held.

“Hungry?”

Orlando looked up. David’s pale blue eyes were very clear, the lashes surrounding them were ragged slices of sunrise, and he was watching Orlando with an intensity that made his breath shorten.

“Yes, I’m…hungry.”

His voice was too husky, but Orlando was helpless to change it. Something in David’s eyes was making his blood shimmer wildly through his body, leaving chaos in its wake. Orlando would have moved, but felt unable to take so much as a step. Motionless he waited for David to say something.

“David?” Orlando whispered finally, looking up at him, wondering what was wrong, why he felt as though he were on the edge of a cliff and only had to spread his wings and fly…or fall endlessly, spinning away into infinity like a snowflake on the wind.

David saw yearning and uncertainty in Orlando’s wide brown eyes, hissed a searing word through his teeth and let go of the backpack. The straps slid through Orlando’s fingers. He grabbed at it with both hands, but it was David’s extraordinary reflexes that kept the pack from being dumped into the snow. Instead of giving the pack to Orlando, he slung it over one shoulder and turned back the way they had come.

For a moment Orlando was too unsettled to follow. He watched David stride through the widely spaced trees. He moved with strength and silence that should have frightened him, but it did not. David’s male grace and power tugged at Orlando’s senses, just as the realization that he had never seen David in anything but dark clothes tugged at his emotions.

 _He wants me. He’s never made any secret of it. So why won’t he even kiss me?_

The thought of being kissed again by David made Orlando’s blood shimmer wildly once more. His breath came in hard and ragged, and he wanted nothing more in that instant than the feel of David’s lips on his own.

 _Lord, if Mark had had this effect on me, we’d be married by now, shagging like bunnies at every possible opportunity._

The thought of actually physically consummating his attraction to David went through Orlando like lightning, shaking him. The touch of those long sure fingers, the slow caress of David’s breath against his skin, the sensation of bare skin caressing bare skin, hands caressing him. Strong restrained hands caressing his body wantonly.

Orlando’s breath rushed out, leaving him dizzy and disoriented. He blinked and took several slow breaths as he looked around in the manner of a person who has awakened in a strange land. The snow-brushed trees were unchanged, the white glitter of sunswept snow was the same, and the tracks still showed as blue-white marks in the snow. Nothing in the world around him had changed.

Yet everything had changed. For the first time in Orlando’s life, his own inner world, the untouched, inviolate privacy of his dreams, had been transformed by the presence of a man. And not just any man, but the virile, restrained strength of David.

 _I’m falling in love with David._

 _No. Scratch that. It’s past tense, over and done with, and I was the last one to know._

Baby whined and nudged Orlando’s hand. Absently he stroked Baby’s big head. Baby ducked, caught Orlando’s gloved hand in his mouth and tugged. Immediately he had Orlando’s full attention.

“You’re right, Baby. It’s time we left the mamma cougar in peace. Or is it lunch you’re after, hmm? Does your sharp nose know that all the food left with David? Or do you sense that he’s making off with my heart as well as my pack?”

Yellow eyes watched Orlando alertly.

“Yes, I know,” Orlando said in a low voice. “It’s stupid of me to let someone walk off with something vital. But my lack of sense is nothing new. A smart man would have followed everyone’s advise and let you die after finding you in that trap rather than take a chance on getting savaged while trying to teach a wild young mostly-wolf to trust people again.”

Baby cocked his head to the side, listening to Orlando with every fiber of his mostly-wolf being. Then he made a soft sound deep in his throat and turned his head to look out across the land.

“Okay, boy, I get the message.” He swept his arm in the direction that David had gone. “Go catch up with lunch.”

It was like releasing a catapult. Within three seconds Baby was low to the ground and his tail streaming out like a dark banner. Orlando followed more slowly, needing time to get a better grip on his unsettling thoughts.

 _David won’t be an easy man to love. He’s a winter man, shut down deep inside, waiting for a spring that hasn’t come._

On the heels of Orlando’s thought came another, a realization as unflinching as the winter itself.

 _Don’t kid yourself. You’re going into this with your eyes wide open or you’re not going at all. David isn’t waiting for spring. He probably doesn’t even believe spring exists. He’s caught in his own ice age. That’s quite a difference._

 _It’s a difference that could break your heart._

Yet even knowing that Orlando could no more walk away from David now than he had been able to walk away years ago from a wild young wolf made savage by pain.  
[ Chapter 9](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2332.html)  



	9. Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists <9/31>

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has pushed and prodded me into working on this. Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/).

_  
**Western Lovers:Cowboys & Biologists (9/31)**   
_   
  
[   
](http://photobucket.com)

**Title:** Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists  <9/31>  
 **Author:**[](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/profile)[ **sassywitch**](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/)  
 **Beta** the patient and talented [](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/profile)[**charlieisagirl**](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/)  
 **Pairing:** OB/DW  
 **Rating:** NC-17 for the series, PG-13 this chapter.  
 **Summary:** David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.  
 **Feedback:** Feedback is my writers crack, which is not to be confused at all with plumbers crack.  
 **Disclaimer:** Not at all true in reality. These men whilst adorable and perfectly happy to slash themselves, their actual relationship is something that they only know. This story is adapted from a series of books that I adored when I was younger written by Elizabeth Lowell.  
 **Word Count:** 1600  
 **Previous Story:** Can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1656893.html)  
 **Previous Ordaisy chapter:** As suggested by [](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/profile)[**mystery_ink**](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/) can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1650642.html)  
 **Previous Chapters:** [ Chapter 1](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/353.html)|[ Chapter 2](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/597.html) |[ Chapter 3](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/910.html)|[ Chapter 4](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1032.html)|[ Chapter 5](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1359.html)|[ Chapter 6](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1630.html)|[ Chapter 7](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2014.html)|[ Chapter 8](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2254.html)

  
 **Posted to:** [](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/profile)[**fellowshippers**](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/) , [](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/profile)[**monaboyd**](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/) and [](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/profile)[**ordaisy**](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/)  
 **Header Art:** Courtesy of the incredibly talented [](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/profile)[**loki_girl**](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/).  
 **Author’s Notes:** Thank you to everyone who has pushed and prodded me into working on this. Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/).

~*~*~*~*~*  
With unnerving quickness, David pushed back from the long table where everyone on the Double L ate dinner.

“Good God, David,” Billy muttered as his brother turned away to leave. “You’re as jumpy as a long tailed cat in a room full of rockers. If you’re so worried about him that you can’t sit through a whole meal, go check on him.”

The ranch hands sitting around the Double L’s table became silent. David had been edgy for the five days since he had ridden back down out of Fangorn Canyon missing one boot. Privately, the hands had speculated that Brego had dumped his rider down the scree slope out of self-preservation, but none of the men had offered that theory within David’s hearing. After learning about the modern day fight at the OK Corral, the cowhands had been very careful to give David all the room he might need, and then extra space for good measure.

David turned around with feline speed. Narrowed ice blue eyes focused on Billy. “Who?” David asked softly.

“The wolf, who else?” Billy said blandly as he poured gravy over his second serving of chicken. “We all know how you get worried about everything.” He winked at Liv. “You always know when something’s wrong. If you’re so worried, go.”

David grunted.

Billy’s partner, Dom, smiled at his plate. Liv and Dom were all touched by David’s concern for them and their babies. It was so unexpected coming from a man as hard as David.

“Go ahead and check again,” Billy continued, carefully not looking at his brother, for David wouldn’t have missed the amused warmth in Billy’s green eyes. “We’ve got eleven hands now and two more coming tomorrow. We won’t even miss you. Right, Viggo?” Billy added as Viggo walked in and sat down.

“Miss who?”

“My point exactly,” Billy said.

David looked sharply at his brother, saw only the top of a ginger head bent over a plate full of excellent food, and muttered something too low for anyone to really overhear.

A muffled cry came from the next room. Dom and Liv looked at each other as both pushed back from the table.

“Sit down, Dom.” David said “I’ll see what’s bothering Daisy. Whatever it is it isn’t serious.”

Both Dom and Liv settled back into their chairs. Neither questioned David’s words, for they had quickly discovered that he had an uncanny ability to judge not only the identity of a child by its cry but also the urgency of the problem.

“Thanks,” Dom said to David’s retreating back. Then, softly, he turned to Billy. “David is wasted as an uncle. He should have babies of his own to love.”

Beneath the table Billy squeezed Dom’s hand. “David’s been through too many wars, Honey. He doesn’t trust life enough to risk loving. And without love, there won’t be babies. We may come from bastard stock but we don’t make babies unless they’re made with love.” His thumb stroked over Dom’s palm as he added wryly. “It just took me a while to figure it out for myself.”

Dom smiled at Billy and laced their fingers together.

David’s acute hearing had picked up every syllable of the conversation between Dom and Billy. David didn’t disagree with Billy’s assessment of their clan. The day David had realized that Billy was a stubborn bastard and was leaving his soul mate alone, just because Billy was uncertain about his own ability to completely love another, David had taken his brother out to a lonely stretch of pasture and given him the fight Billy had been begging for since the day Dom had left the Double L.

It had been a learning experience for both men. One of the things they had learned was that the love of a brother for a brother was a lot deeper than either had suspected.

“Well, little lady.” David said, bending down over Daisy-May’s playpen and lifting her into his arms. “You’re as fat and sassy as a summer storm. You want to cloud up and rain all over me?”

Daisy-May had no such intention now that one of her favorite human beings was within reach. She made a cooing, crowing sound of triumph and grabbed David’s beard. He endured the rough caress for a time before gently disengaging her small, surprisingly strong fingers.

“Easy does it,” he murmured, rubbing his beard against Daisy’s small hands and cheeks. “You’ll have me bald before you’re a year older.”

She laughed with delight and grabbed for the intriguing chin fur again. David blew on Daisy’s head teasingly, stirring her silky black hair, the legacy of her birthright. Her eyes were a clear and sparkling chocolate. Her smile was unique, a smile like sunrise, a contagion of warmth. Holding Daisy-May, turning his shoulders slowly from side to side, David spoke softly.

“Just lonely, huh?” David murmured, his deep voice gentle, almost a purr. “Well don’t you worry, little darling. Milo is almost over the flu. In a few days he’ll be back to stealing your toys. For now, though, he’s out of commission. Guess you’ll have to settle for me tonight. But your ‘uncle’ Sean should be back by the weekend. He’s an even bigger sucker for little girls than I am.”

Daisy-May cooed. Thick black lashes swept down over her sparkling eyes. She curled up against David’s chest, yawned, rubbed her ear with a small fist, and relaxed completely. Thirty seconds later she was asleep.

David stood for a long time, cradling the little girl’s head with his hand, rocking her gently, peering into the matching cribs that sat alongside Daisy’s playpen. Both of her siblings had slept right through her little rainstorm. Tightly swaddled, Lana and Lennox were oblivious to everything around them; their tiny fists plunged into their mouths, sucking as they slept.

His fingers stroked her silky hair, remembering too many babies who had been born into a war-torn land, babies too weak even to cry out, babies he had found too late….

“You’re going to spoil her,” Billy said from the doorway but his smile was as affectionate as his voice.

“My pleasure,” David said, looking down at his sleeping niece. “She’s such a healthy, pretty little thing. You two are the best thing to ever happen to her.”

“She has your smile,” Billy said softly. “But Viggo and I are the only ones who know about that. We’re the only ones who remember you from the time before you gave up smiling.”

David shrugged slightly. “That’s what happens when you wrestle with evil and lose.”

“Is it? I wrestled. I lost. And I learned to smile again anyways.”

“Then you’re a fool Billy. Any man who lets emotions affect him is a fool.”

“Any man who doesn’t is dead in all the ways that matter and you damn well know it. That’s why you’re standing there holding Daisy-May.”

“She’s hardly more than a baby. She needs to be held, needs to know she’s not alone, needs…” David shrugged again. “She needs holding, that’s all.”

“So do adults. Sometimes we need it most of all.”

“At your height, you’re a little big for cuddling, sorry.” David said dryly.

“Don’t tell that to Dom. Or Viggo, for that matter. Viggo and I would hate like hell to give up our ration of cuddling.”

Daisy-May stirred, complained sleepily and burrowed closer to David.

Billy looked at his watch. “Bedtime. Hand her over to Daddy.”

David shifted Daisy-May into her father’s arms. She opened her eyes, approved her new transportation and promptly went back to sleep. Billy kissed the silky black hair and headed for the stairway.

“Billy?”

“Yeah?” Billy asked softly without looking back.

“If you’re sure you don’t need me around here, I think I’ll head for Fangorn Canyon in the morning.”

“Happy hunting.”

Only Daisy-May could have seen Billy’s wide, knowing smile, and she was asleep.

“Would you miss one of the ranch trucks?” David continued “We – I lost the cat’s tracks on a windy slope way back up a canyon. Even a dog couldn’t track her in there. It’s too steep for a horse, so I might as well drive up that old logging road and work back down from there.”

“Take the black truck. Take extra supplies. Take anything you need to get the job done right, including time. For once we’re not shorthanded. In other words, don’t hurry back.”

Sensing the buried amusement in Billy’s voice, David watched closely as his brother disappeared out the door carrying the utterly relaxed child.

Abruptly, David turned away and went to the bunkhouse. He packed what he would need, set his mental alarm clock for five hours of sleep and crawled into his cold bunk, trying not to remember what it had been like to hold Orlando for just a few moments in his arms in an isolated cabin when he had been disturbed by his dark, unremembered dreams.

David slept quickly, deeply and he did not remember his dreams. Five hours later he awakened, dressed and went to the black pickup truck. When he opened the door, a mélange of fragrances greeted him – Liv’s chocolate chip cookies and Dom’s fudge brownies, a sack of freshly baked biscuits and a kettle of hearty beef stew that would feed him for several days.

The corner of David’s mouth turned up as Billy’s words came back to him: _Don’t tell that to Dom or Liv. Viggo and I would hate like hell to give up our ration of cuddling._

Something told David that Dom and Liv enjoyed it too.

[ Chapter 10](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2625.html)   



	10. Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists <10/32>

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has pushed and prodded me into working on this. Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/).

_  
**Western Lovers:Cowboys & Biologists (10/32)**   
_   
  
[   
](http://photobucket.com)

**Title:** Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists  <10/32>  
 **Author:**[](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/profile)[ **sassywitch**](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/)  
 **Beta** the patient and talented [](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/profile)[**charlieisagirl**](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/)  
 **Pairing:** OB/DW  
 **Rating:** NC-17 for the series, PG-15 this chapter.  
 **Summary:** David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.  
 **Feedback:** Feedback is my writers crack, which is not to be confused at all with plumbers crack.  
 **Disclaimer:** Not at all true in reality. These men whilst adorable and perfectly happy to slash themselves, their actual relationship is something that they only know. This story is adapted from a series of books that I adored when I was younger written by Elizabeth Lowell.  
 **Word Count:** 4365  
 **Previous Story:** Can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1656893.html)  
 **Previous Ordaisy chapter:** As suggested by [](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/profile)[**mystery_ink**](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/) can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1650642.html)  
 **Previous Chapters:** [ Chapter 1](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/353.html)|[ Chapter 2](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/597.html) |[ Chapter 3](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/910.html)|[ Chapter 4](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1032.html)|[ Chapter 5](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1359.html)|[ Chapter 6](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1630.html)|[ Chapter 7](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2014.html)|[ Chapter 8](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2254.html)|[ Chapter 9](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2332.html)

 **Posted to:** [](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/profile)[**fellowshippers**](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/) , [](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/profile)[**monaboyd**](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/) and [](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/profile)[**ordaisy**](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/)  
 **Header Art:** Courtesy of the incredibly talented [](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/profile)[**loki_girl**](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/).  
 **Author’s Notes:** Thank you to everyone who has pushed and prodded me into working on this. Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/).

~*~*~*~*~*  
The first red-gold tint of dawn had barely seeped through the cabin window when Baby scratched at the door, looked toward Orlando’s sleeping bag, then pawed the door again.

“Lord, Baby,” Orlando muttered, sitting up, coughing, “Don’t you ever sleep?”

Baby whined.

“Stay put, you're still sick.” said a deep voice. “I’ll let him out.”

Orlando looked over at the mound of sleeping bag and blankets that was David. “I’m already up. Besides I’ve only got a cold and I've done nothing but lay around since you got here three days ago.” He rubbed his eyes and stretched again. “I’m like Baby – ready to prowl.”

David didn’t bother to argue. He came out of the sleeping bag and got to his feet in an uninterrupted motion, took two long strides and opened the cabin door. Baby flowed outside like a shadow left over from the vanishing night.

David shut the door and turned back towards his sleeping bag.

Orlando’s breath came in with an audible rush when he opened his eyes once more. David wore only black jeans, and all but one of the steel buttons were undone. Hints of golden light caressed him like a lover, emphasizing the shift and coil of powerful muscles beneath smooth skin. Ginger-blonde hair glowed and licked over his torso like golden flames: a heavy pelt covering his pectorals thinning into a fine golden line across his taut belly trailing down to the glimpse of golden curls at the open V of his jeans. An odd feeling lanced through Orlando, a hunger and a yearning that was unlike anything he had ever experienced.

When David reached for his black flannel shirt and began putting it on, Orlando wanted to protest. He also wanted to run his hands over David, to test the strength and resilience of his muscles, to savor all the textures of his golden hair with palms and fingertips, to taste his lips, his cheeks, his eyelashes, his shoulders, to trace every velvet shadow on his body with the tip of his tongue.

“Orlando? Are you alright?” David stared into the shadows, wondering at the cause of Orlando’s unnatural stillness.

“Yes.” He said faintly.

“You don’t sound like it.” David said as he rolled up his sleeves. “How does your chest feel? Still tight?”

“I’m fine.”

“You won’t be if you don’t stay warm.” David crossed the cabin, knelt and stuffed Orlando back under the mound of covers. “You’re shivering. Damn it, are you trying to get pneumonia?”

Orlando shook his head. “Don’t worry I’m a long way from pneumonia.”

“I knew you believed in fairy tales,” David muttered, pulling the blankets up to Orlando’s chin. “Pnuemonia is unpredictable. One minute you’ve got the flu or a cold and the next minute, _bang_! You’re fighting for your life.”

Memories sleeted through Orlando, ripping away everything but the past. He tried to speak but had no voice. He swallowed and tried again.

“I know about pneumonia.”

The resonances of certainty, grief and acceptance in Orlando’s voice made David’s hands pause over his blankets. He looked at Orlando intently. In the increasing light of dawn his eyes were wide, shimmering with tears, unblinking, focused on something only he could see.

David caught a tear on his fingertip. It burned against his skin like a molten diamond.

“Orlando...”

Orlando let out his breath in a ragged sigh and blinked away the tears. “It’s alright. It’s just that sometimes…sometimes the memories….are stronger than other times.”

“Yes,” he said simply. “Sometimes they are.”

Chocolate eyes focused on David. Orlando smiled despite the traces of tears still shining on his eyelashes.

“The memories aren’t sad, not completely,” he said. “Just bittersweet. Savannah was eight months old, and alive the way only a healthy baby can be. Tears and laughter, going full tilt one minute and sound asleep the next. Sweet little tornado. Her laughter made me think of bright orange wildflowers.” Orlando smiled, remembering, and his smile was as real as his tears had been. David’s throat tightened around emotions he had not permitted himself to feel for too many years.

“How long ago?” he asked, his voice low.

“Twelve years. Early in spring. I was almost sixteen, too old to be a child, not old enough to be anything else.” Orlando said, looking past David, remembering another time, another place. “My sister, Savannah, she was beautiful. She got sick the way babies do, sniffles and short temper and endless fussing. Then she got an ear infection, then another cold, another infection, a cough, and each time she fussed less.”

Orlando hesitated before continuing in a low voice. “A late storm came down out of the Arctic, the temperature dropped seventy degrees and Savannah’s breathing changed. We managed to get out on the radio to ask for help, but nothing could fly in that storm. All we could do was keep Savannah warm and pray that the storm broke in time.”

David closed his eyes for a moment, understanding all too well the feelings of helplessness and pain that Orlando’s family had endured. He had seen too many shattered families, shattered villages, shattered lands.

“I was the only one who didn’t have a cold,” Orlando continued in a low voice, “so Savannah was sleeping with me. I was holding her when she died. I held her….for a long time.”

The only sound was that of David’s big hands smoothing the blankets around Orlando’s shoulders as he watched him with an intensity that was almost tangible. He had no doubt of the depth and power of his grief. He could feel it beating silently around him, black velvet wings of sorrow and loss.

But he had also seen Orlando smile, heard his laugh – and that, too, was genuine. His joy in life was vivid and complex, generous and oddly serene. That was what had drawn him instantly to Orlando - his absolute certainty that life was a hot, golden cataract flowing through Orlando, a fire that would burn against any darkness, any ice, any night.

Orlando still smiled, although he knew that life was cruel and unpredictable, knew that it had betrayed joy and trust, leaving him to hold a dying child in his arms. He was even able to laugh.

“The ring on your chain. It belonged to Savannah.”

There was no question in David’s deep voice, but Orlando answered anyway.

“Yes.”

“Why.”

Again it was not a question, not quite a plea, not fully a demand. Again Orlando softly answered.

“I wear Savannah’s ring to remind myself that love is never wasted, never futile.”

Something stirred deep within David, a part of him so long hidden that he believed he had died. The pain that came was shocking, making it impossible to breathe, much less speak.

And he wanted to speak. He wanted to argue with Orlando. He wanted it so fiercely that his hands clenched on the blankets. Yet he could find no words to counter Orlando’s certainty, no words to shake his serenity, nothing to equal his laughter; only a bleak incoherent cry clawing at his soul, a cry of rage or fear or hope…or a wrenching blend of all three.

In a rush of barely controlled power, David stood up and turned away from Orlando. Silently, Orlando watched while David stirred the banked fire into life with a few harsh strokes, added wood and walked to the sink. He dipped water from the bucket, primed the pump and worked the long iron handle as savagely as though he were killing snakes. Water sped up from the hidden well and leaped out of the pump in a rushing crystal stream.

He filled three buckets, a kettle and the coffeepot before he released the pump handle. Buckets and kettle went to the hearth. The coffeepot went on the single-burner backpacking stove Orlando had brought. Each move David made was controlled, graceful despite the anger radiating from him like heat from the hearth.

Orlando watched David, reminded of the first cougar he had ever seen. It had been caged, and wild within that cage, raking with unsheathed claws at everything that came near.

 _What is it, David? What did I say to make you so angry?_

The question was asked only in the silence of Orlando’s mind, for he knew David wouldn’t answer if he spoke aloud.

After a few minutes Orlando groped around in his sleeping bag, found his clothes, and dressed within the cocoon of blankets and bag. Even with pre-warmed jeans and a turtleneck sweater, he shivered when he crawled out into the cold air of the cabin. Orlando pushed his stocking feet into his fleece-lined moccasins, pulled on his jacket and went outside.

The soft closing of the door was like a gunshot in the taut silence of the cabin. David put one more piece of firewood on the flames and sat on his heels in front of the hearth, watching the renewed leap of fire with bleak blue eyes. But it wasn’t the flames he was seeing. It was Orlando’s tears, Orlando’s smile, Orlando’s lips, Orlando’s eyes admiring him, wanting him.

David spread his hands before the fire, saw their fine trembling, and balled his fingers into fists. He wanted Orlando. He wanted him until he shook with it. Want.

“Other than that how do you feel?” Orlando asked dryly, closing the door behind him.

David spun around and came to his feet with shocking speed, his body poised for defense or attack. He hadn’t heard Orlando open the door.

 _He hadn’t heard him._

“I must be losing my edge.” David said lowering his hands.

Orlando shrugged and hung his jacket on a nearby nail.

“More likely your subconscious figured out I’m no threat to you, so why spend your energy staying on guard?”

“No threat?” David repeated. Abruptly he had an impulse to laugh that was more shocking to him than the fact that he had been too caught up in his own thoughts to hear the cabin door opening behind him. “Orlando, the only threat that matters is the one you don’t see coming. That’s the one that gets you.”

“I’m not big enough to ‘get’ you.” Orlando looked past David. “Besides, you can read my mind.”

“I can?”

“The buckets.”

“What?” he asked, taken off guard once more. David turned and looked at the buckets warming next to the fire as though he had never seen them. In some ways, it was true. He had pumped water as a physical outlet, not because they need three buckets plus a kettle of water warming by the fire. “The buckets make me a mind reader.”

“Sure. You knew I wanted to take a bath. Presto. Bathwater appears.”

“Wrong. You’re not well enough yet.”

“Pucky.”

David blinked. “What?”

“Don’t try to change the subject. I need a bath. This time you’re not going to talk me out of it.”

“I didn’t talk you out of it last time,” David pointed out coolly. “I just said I wasn’t going anywhere and you decided not to have a bath after all.”

“Um. Well, this time you won’t get away with it. If I don’t wash my hair, it’s going to get up and walk off my head.”

“Orlando--”

“Nope,” he interrupted. “No deal. I haven’t run a fever for almost two days. I’m having a bath and that’s all there is to it.”

“What if I stay and watch?”

“I’ll blush a lot, but I’ll survive.”

“You’re playing with fire.”

“People who are cold tend to do that.”

David shook his head in disbelief, hardly able to comprehend that someone as soft and vulnerable as Orlando was ignoring the kind of warning that had made grown men back off. “Has anyone ever mentioned that you’re too stubborn for your own good?”

“Frequently. Gives me great faith in the powers of human observation.”

Narrowed blue eyes swept over Orlando’s slender body. “Oh, I’m an observant, noticing kind of man, as you pointed out. Right now I’m noticing how hard and tight your nipples get when they’re cold. Do they get like that for a man’s mouth, too?”

Orlando’s lips opened but no sound came out. He was too surprised to think coherently much less speak.

“I’ve noticed your tongue too.” David continued. “Quick and pink and clever. I’d like to feel it all over, everywhere, every last damned aching inch of me. But most of all I’ve noticed those long, long legs of yours. I want to be between them. I want to sink into you, all the way in, and I want to watch you while I do it. I want it so much I wake up sweating.” His pale crystalline eyes pinned Orlando. “Still planning on taking a bath in front of me?”

David hooked his thumbs in his belt loops and waited, watching Orlando with eyes that missed nothing and concealed nothing of the response to what he saw.

Orlando said something succinct and inelegant, glared at David and stalked past him to the fire. Calmly, David joined him and added more wood, redoubling the flames.

“Scrambled eggs or oatmeal?” he asked as though nothing had happened.

“No,” Orlando said between his teeth. “Thank you.”

“So polite.”

“You ought to try it sometime. Works wonders in human relationships.”

“I prefer honesty.”

“Do you? Then try this.” Orlando flashed him a sideways look from brilliant brown eyes. “I’m not angry because you want me. I’m angry because you hate wanting me. Why, David? What is so awful about wanting me?”

“Not having you?”

The breath and much of the anger went out of Orlando with a long sigh. He started to speak, made a helpless gesture of appeal with his hands and tried again.

“I won’t say no to you, David.”

“Why? Do you go to bed with every man who wants you?”

“What do you think?”

“I think you’re damned fussy about who touches you.”

“I think you’re right.”

“So why me, Orlando?”

When Orlando opened his mouth to explain the complex, unexpected, seething, surprising mixture of emotions David called out of him, the only words he could think of were very simple.

“I love you, David.”

His mouth flattened into a savage line. “That’s what I was afraid you were telling yourself. Fairy tales. You can’t accept that all there is between us is sex. I wanted you the instant I saw you. You wanted me the same way. Calling it love doesn’t change what it is. Sex. Pure and simple and hot as hell.”

“You can call it whatever you want.”

“But you’ll call it love, right?’

“Why do you care what I call it? I’m not asking you to lie to me about what you feel. When you get right down to it, I’ve never asked you for one damned thing but a bath.”

David kept on talking as though Orlando had never spoken. “Let me tell you what the real world is like, fairytale boy. The real world is Afghanistan, where you walk through a narrow mountain pass in single file with five handpicked men and arrive at your destination and look around and you’re alone, nothing on your back trail but blood and silence. The real world is a place where you fight for what you believe in, and then find out that, win or lose, the weak and helpless are still the first to die. The real world is a place where you know a hundred ways to kill a man and not one damned way to save a baby’s life.”

Orlando tried to speak. It was futile. David kept on talking, his eyes like splinters of ice, his voice emotionless, his words relentless, hammering on him, forcing him to hear.

“The real world is a place where you walk into villages with men whose wives and sisters and mothers and daughters have been murdered in ways you can’t even begin to imagine, villages where children are diseased and maimed by starvation, villages where babies are too weak to cry because they starved in the womb and their mothers have no milk and by the time you get to them, all you can do with your prayers and medicine and rage is hold those babies until they die and then you bury them and walk away, just walk away, because any man who cares for anything enough to be hurt by its loss is a fool.”

“David.” Orlando whispered, reaching for him, wanting to comfort him. “David, I--”

Orlando’s words ended with a startled sound when David’s hands flashed out and pinned his wrists against his sides.

“Don’t touch me, Orlando.” David said in a low voice, but even as he spoke he was leaning down, coming closer to him, so close that all that lay between their mouths was the mingled heat of their breath. “I want you too much. I want you until I can’t sleep, can’t take a deep breath, can’t look at my hands without seeing them on your body, can’t-- My god I can’t even lick my lips without wondering what you would taste like.”

“Find out.” Orlando whispered against his lips. “Taste me, David.”

With a sound that was almost anguished, David lowered his head the final fraction of an inch.

Orlando’s lips were soft, warm, undefended. They opened for David without hesitation, yielding the secrets of his mouth to David at the first gliding touch of his tongue. Hot, generous, sweet, clean – David couldn’t get enough of him. The changing taste and texture of Orlando’s mouth lured him deeper and deeper until he could go no farther and yet he still wanted more, so much more. David was straining against Orlando, shaking, tormented by all that he would not allow himself to take.

Then he realized that Orlando was trembling too, and his tears were hot against David’s lips. David tore his mouth from Orlando’s and stepped back, releasing his wrists as though they had burned him. When he licked his lips he tasted the salt of Orlando’s tears. Something deep within him ached with a surprising pain.

He had tried to stay away from Orlando because he had known all he had to give him was tears. What he hadn’t known was that he could still feel pain himself. The realization shocked him.

“Do you understand now, fairytale boy?” David asked in a soft voice, but there was nothing of softness in his eyes, his body, his certainty, his memories.

Orlando was too shaken by David’s passion and his pain to do more than nod his head. At that instant he knew how he felt beyond any doubt or wishful misunderstanding. His instincts had been right. David was a winter man, his emotions frozen, and he was that way by choice, not accident. He had been stretched to the breaking point in Afghanistan. He had not broken.

And the price of remaining sane had been to walk away from his emotions. They were a weakness in a time and place where only the strongest and fiercest survived. David Wenham had survived.

 _Warrior._

Orlando had spoken only in the silence of his mind, yet David’s expression changed. David knew him too well, had known him instantly and wanted him with a violence equaled only by his refusal to acknowledge the possibility of love.

 _Sex, not love_ , Orlando reminded himself, understanding now why David had insisted on making the distinction ruthlessly clear.

 _Fairy tales. Fairytale Boy._

Eyes closed, Orlando interlaced his fingers to keep from reaching for David in an offer of comfort and healing that he neither wanted nor would permit. Yet somehow Orlando had to free his beautiful trapped cougar without getting ripped to pieces in the process.

If he could free David at all.

There was no guarantee of success. There was just David’s need and his love and the battle yet to be fought.

 _Win, lose or draw._ Orlando told himself bracingly.

 _No. It’s win or lose, period. David doesn’t know any other way._

No second place. No truce. No genteel neutral ground between victory or defeat where two people could meet and shake hands and talk politely about things that didn’t matter. Either they both won or they both lost.

And what Orlando believed in was love.

“Coffee’s ready. Want some?” David asked.

“Please.” Orlando said absently, still caught in the instant he had first understood the risk and necessity of what he must do.

“Back to being polite, huh?” David asked. He crouched over the coffeepot and poured a fragrant stream into a mug

Orlando gave David a sidelong glance from his place by the hearth and decided it was time to fire the opening shot of their undeclared war.

“Go to hell, David, but hand over my coffee first.”

David’s mouth lifted at the left corner. Without looking at Orlando he set the pot back on the burner and handed Orlando his mug as he turned back to the fire.

“Guess I had that one coming.” David said.

“And a few more besides but I’m feeling generous.”

David turned and looked at Orlando over his shoulder.

“That was the second thing I noticed about you in Helm’s Deep. Your smile. Not a bit of calculation in it. Generous.”

“My smile was the second thing, huh? So what was the first thing you noticed?”

“I’m a man,” David said dryly “What do you think I noticed?”

“That I was wearing a quilted down jacket?” Orlando suggested, his voice as dry as David’s.

“Yeah, something like that. Then you started walking. You move like liquid sex.”

“David. I have to walk.”

David shot Orlando a glittering blue look before he turned back to the fire. “You were the wrong man in the wrong place at the wrong time – and you walked right up to me.”

“You had a beard.”

“So did the bartender.”

“I liked yours better. It looked sleek and healthy, a wonderful male pelt. I wanted to rub my cheek against it to see if it felt as good as it looked.” Orlando set aside the coffee mug, stretched and smiled to himself as he fired the second shot. “Then I found out it felt even better than it looked. When you kissed me, your beard was like a thick silk brush on my skin. I liked that, David. It made me wonder what your beard would feel like on my neck, on my bare shoulders, on the inside of my wrists, between my ---”

“You just can’t stop pushing can you?” David interrupted roughly.

Orlando finished stretching, lowered his arms, and let his fingertips idly brush David’s hair. “When you don’t leave me any room to move, it’s hard not to push.”

David hesitated in the act of dropping another piece of wood on the already vigorous fire. When he let go, there was a shower of sparks. Without a word he rotated the buckets, bringing a cool side to meet the increasing heat of the flames. He stretched out a long arm, picked up the mug of coffee and handed it to Orlando again.

“Nervous?” he asked dryly, quirking an eyebrow at Orlando.

“What?”

“You’re petting me. That’s what you do when you’re nervous, isn’t it? Pet the nearest thing?”

Orlando realized that his fingertips had returned to ruffling David’s hair as though he were Baby. “Like I said. It’s hard not to push or touch when you’re being crowded.

“I didn’t know I was crowding you.” David said, pinning him with a pale blue glance. “In face, I would have sworn it was the other way around.”

For a moment Orlando sipped the coffee, gathering his scattered thoughts. He had fired the first two shots, yet he felt as though he had just stumbled into an ambush. The combination of passion and calculation in David’s eyes was unnerving. Obviously there was more to this kind of skirmish than Orlando thought. Maybe he would be better off doing as David did – using the kind of honesty that could rock a man back on his heels.

“I’m not used to being told when I can track cats,” Orlando said. “Or when I can take a bath, what I can eat, where I can…”

“You’re sick,” David interrupted.

“I was sick. I’m well now. I have a very good appreciation of my own physical limits. Being raised in the Yukon does that for you. I’m fine David. So if you keep me locked up any longer, you’d better be prepared to deal with a major case of the rips.”

“The rips?”

“Yeah, I’m like Baby. If I can’t tear around outside, I’ll tear around inside.”

“The rips.” David repeated, shaking his head. “I’ve never met anyone like you.”

“That makes us even,” Orlando said, watching him over the rim of the mug. “I’ve never met anyone like you, either. And I’ve never been kissed like that, heaven and hell and the rainbow burning between…”

He saw the sudden expansion of David’s pupils, heard the intake of his breath, sensed the hot leap of his blood.

“Was it like that for you, David?”

For an electric instant Orlando thought David was going to pull him down to the hearth and kiss him again. Instead, he came to his feet in a lithe rush, stalked across the cabin, grabbed his jacket and opened the front door.

“I’m going to look for that cougar’s den.”

“Too much honesty, huh?” asked Orlando. “Want me to go back to being polite? Or would you rather I just work off my excess energy petting you?”

The door closed very softly behind David.

“If Baby gets in your way, send him back to me.” Orlando called through the door. “I’ll frolic with him instead.”

David didn’t answer.

Orlando went to the window and looked out. David was heading across the clearing with long, determined strides. An ecstatic Baby was leaping around him.

“I think, in military terminology, David just executed a strategic disengagement,” Orlando thought aloud. “Ordinary folks would call it a retreat.”

Smiling, Orlando tested the water in the nearest bucket and smiled approvingly. By the time he finished breakfast, the water would be warm enough for a bath.  
[ Chapter 11](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3070.html)  



	11. Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists <11/31>

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has pushed and prodded me into working on this. Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/). You get this chapter a few hours early because I'm expecting guests and probably won't be available to post later on.

_  
**Western Lovers: Cowboys & Biologists (11/31)**   
_   
  
[   
](http://photobucket.com)

**Title:** Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists  <11/31>  
 **Author:**[](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/profile)[ **sassywitch**](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/)  
 **Beta** the patient and talented [](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/profile)[**charlieisagirl**](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/)  
 **Pairing:** OB/DW  
 **Rating:** NC-17 for the series, PG-15 this chapter.  
 **Summary:** David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.  
 **Feedback:** Feedback is my writers crack, which is not to be confused at all with plumbers crack.  
 **Disclaimer:** Not at all true in reality. These men whilst adorable and perfectly happy to slash themselves, their actual relationship is something that they only know. This story is adapted from a series of books that I adored when I was younger written by Elizabeth Lowell.  
 **Word Count:** 5926  
 **Previous Story:** Can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1656893.html)  
 **Previous Ordaisy chapter:** As suggested by [](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/profile)[**mystery_ink**](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/) can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1650642.html)  
 **Previous Chapters:** [ Chapter 1](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/353.html)|[ Chapter 2](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/597.html) |[ Chapter 3](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/910.html)|[ Chapter 4](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1032.html)|[ Chapter 5](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1359.html)|[ Chapter 6](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1630.html)|[ Chapter 7](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2014.html)|[ Chapter 8](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2254.html)|[ Chapter 9](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2332.html)|[ Chapter 10](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2625.html)

  
 **Posted to:** [](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/profile)[**fellowshippers**](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/) , [](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/profile)[**monaboyd**](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/) and [](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/profile)[**ordaisy**](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/)  
 **Header Art:** Courtesy of the incredibly talented [](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/profile)[**loki_girl**](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/).  
 **Author’s Notes:** Thank you to everyone who has pushed and prodded me into working on this. Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/). You get this chapter a few hours early because I'm expecting guests and probably won't be available to post later on.

~*~*~*~*~*  
Seven days after his strategic retreat, David mysteriously returned to the cabin. If Baby hadn’t scratched relentlessly at the cabin door to be released, Orlando may never have known he was there. David was setting up his own campsite at the opposite side of the small clearing. He never spoke to Orlando, and though his eyes raked Orlando’s body hungrily, a tortured glance into chocolate eyes was the closest he came to contact, before he knelt and stroked Baby’s fur roughly, almost forgetting that Orlando was even there.

Unaccountably annoyed, Orlando turned back to the cabin and paused briefly in the doorway, contemplating his options. Stalking across the room he grabbed his backpack and knelt in front of his belongings, his hands resting on his thighs as he struggled to release the emotions roiling through his blood at David’s return.

Numbly Orlando began stuffing a lightweight down vest and windbreaker into his own backpack.

“Going somewhere?” David asked, he had stepped inside the cabin, closing the door after himself, watching Orlando intently.

“Cat hunting,” Orlando said, his voice carefully balanced within his aching throat. “It’s something I’m good at. Obviously I’m not good at much else. Kissing for one. Warfare, for another.”

David’s eyes narrowed at the sadness Orlando couldn’t wholly conceal. “I’ll leave a cell phone with you. Put it in your back pack.”

“No thank you.”

“It isn’t a request. It’s a Double L rule. If you’re in the backcountry alone, you carry a cellular phone in case you get into trouble. The coverage isn’t perfect, but it’s better than nothing.”

“It didn’t help you last week.”

“The phone was in my saddlebag.”

“Best place for it.”

“Don’t be pigheaded,” David said impatiently.

“Why not? It works for you.”

Orlando didn’t bother to put on his backpack. He just hooked the straps over his arm as he reached for the front door. He barely had the door open when David’s hands shot over his shoulders and slammed the door shut again. His speed was literally breathtaking. The corded power of his bare forearms was a blunt statement of his superior strength. He was a warrior accustomed to fighting – and winning.

“I should let you go,” David said, his voice husky. “God help me, I tried to. I couldn’t stay away so I’ve watched you. Then I saw you standing in sunlight, listening to a bird sing, and your smile was sad and sweet and so beautiful it damn near brought me to my knees.”

David’s hands on the doorframe became fists, then slowly relaxed once more, revealing the fine trembling in his fingers.

“Fairy tale boy, all laughter and golden light.” David whispered against Orlando. His lips brushed Orlando’s hair, the curve of his ear, the warmth of his neck. “I’m worlds too hard for you, but I want you until my hands shake.”

Silently Orlando lifted his own hands, showing their trembling to David. When he saw, he breathed a word that could have been either curse or prayer. He started to turn toward him, only to be pinned against the door by the full length of David’s powerful body.

“Think hard before you turn around.” He said his voice rough with the violence of his blood rushing. “I’m not offering you love and happily ever after.” Slowly David lowered his head, found the nape of Orlando’s neck, and bit him with exquisite care. “But when I’m finished, your hands won’t be shaking anymore.”

Even as the primitive caress shivered through Orlando, he found himself freed. No hard masculine torso pinning him, no powerful arms confining him, nothing but the certainty that David was standing barely a hand’s breadth away, waiting for his answer. Slowly he let the backpack straps slide from his arm and turned towards David.

The look in David’s eyes made Orlando’s breath stop. With a muffled cry he reached for David even as David grasped in kind and lifted him, bringing him to David’s hungry mouth. Orlando slid his arms around David’s neck and said his name in the instant before his kiss claimed him, taking from Orlando the ability to talk, to think, to breathe.

Orlando didn’t care. All he wanted was to hold David and be held by him, to taste him and be tasted in turn, to feel the hardness and restraint of David’s body against his. Orlando’s fingers smoothed the sleek pelt of his hair and beard before finding his powerful shoulders. Making soft approving sounds, Orlando kneaded the bunched muscles of David’s arms, glorying in David’s strength even as he gave his own heat and the sweetness of his mouth in return.

David took everything he wanted from the kiss and discovered that Orlando had more to give, much more than he had ever found with any other kiss, any other partner. Orlando’s response to him was as loving and generous as summer, a pleasure that increased with each heartbeat, doubling and redoubling until he was focused only in the expanding, timeless instant of the kiss. Urgently he savoured Orlando’s gift, tasting and caressing and enjoying with slow movements of his tongue, luring him deeper and deeper into passion until his breathing was ragged and his arms were locked around David. Breathing harshly, swiftly, David held on to Orlando as though he expected him to be ripped from his arms at any instant.

Finally David lifted his head and let Orlando slide down his body, making no attempt to conceal the hard length of his arousal, shuddering openly with pleasure when Orlando’s matching hardness moved over his. Then David held him tightly, fiercely, while he fought for breath, for control, for the discipline of mind and body that he had learned at such great cost and had taken for granted for so many years.

“My God.” David said huskily.

He forced himself to loosen his arms from around Orlando. One big hand stroked through his hair as he let out his breath in an explosive hiss.

“David?” Orlando said, hugging him hard, afraid that he would turn away from him. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Everything. You surprised the hell out of me, Orlando.”

“I did?”

David threaded his fingers through Orlando’s dark, silken locks, tugging gently backward until Orlando’s face was turned up to his.

“Yes.” He said simply. He caught Orlando’s lower lip between his teeth, bit gently, and shuddered even as Orlando did. “You wanted me.”

Shivering, Orlando whispered. “What?”

“I could taste it, feel it, see it. _You wanted ME._ ”

Orlando watched David with uncertain chocolate eyes. “Is that wrong?”

David looked down at him, sensing his confusion as clearly as he had the depth of his passion.

“No it isn’t wrong,” David said. “It’s just….surprising. No one has ever kissed me that way. No calculation, nothing held back, just a kiss as hot and honest as fire. Then I was kissing you the same way and you burned even hotter and so did I and it just kept on, hotter and brighter. I could have taken you right there, straight up. God knows I wanted to.” A faint tremor rippled though his body. “It was a near thing.”

Wide eyes still uncertain, Orlando watched David, trying to understand.

“You don’t get it do you?” David asked.

He shook his head.

“I didn’t come up to Fangorn Canyon expecting to have sex with you,” David said bluntly. “In fact, I deliberately emptied out my pockets before I came up here so I wouldn’t be tempted to touch you. Well that didn’t work, and now I have no way to protect you. What about you? Can you protect yourself?”

Orlando shook his head again.

Despite the hunger blazing in his eyes, David’s mouth kicked up at the left corner. “I didn’t think so. You don’t sleep with men much, do you?”

For the third time Orlando’s head moved in a silent negative.

“It’s a good thing,” David said, bending down to Orlando’s mouth once more, “that there’s more than one way to skin this particular cat.”

“What?”

David hesitated, lifted his head enough to see Orlando’s expression, and asked, “Just how experienced are you, fairy-tale boy?”

Orlando bit his lip and looked at David rather warily. “Are we speaking practical or intellectual experience?”

“Practical.”

“Not much.”

“How much is not much?”

“Not. Much.”

David whistled softly between his teeth. “You’re a virgin, aren’t you?”

“That shouldn’t matter. Everyone starts out that way.”

“My god,” was all David could think to say. He looked at Orlando with a combination of disbelief and wonder.

“Don’t worry,” Orlando said, exasperated. “It isn’t contagious.”

“I’m not contagious either,” he shot back. “But that’s not something you need to worry about.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You’re going to stay a virgin.”

“But I don’t want --”

David kept talking. “You’ll be a very experienced sort of virgin, but a virgin just the same.”

“What does that mean?”

David’s big hands came up, framing Orlando’s face. He looked from Orlando’s puzzled brown eyes to his generous mouth. His lips were flushed with the kiss that had taught David more than he thought he had left to learn about men and passion. He wondered what else he would learn, what he could teach, what discoveries awaited his exploration of his own private, passionate Orlando.

The narrowed blue blaze of David’s eyes as he watched Orlando’s mouth made shimmers of sensation curl from Orlando’s breastbone to his knees. He felt like a tightly furled bud being discovered by the first, searching heat of spring’s potent sun.

“David,” Orlando whispered “Aren’t you going to kiss me?”

“Do you want to kiss me again?”

“Want?” Orlando shivered and laughed softly, almost wildly, wondering how he could make David understand feelings that were so new, so fierce, that Orlando had no names for them. “When I grabbed your wrist to keep you from killing that cowhand in Helm’s Deep and you looked at me…you _saw_ me, David, all the way into me, and you let me stop you, let me _see_ you in return, David.” Orlando breathed against his lips. “David, I was born for you and you were born for me. I want it all with you, everything, heaven and hell and the rainbow burning between.”

With a low sound, David bent and took Orlando’s mouth, giving him his own in return. When the warmth of his lips touched his, David’s arms tightened, lifting him, bringing his whole body into the embrace. David’s hips moved slowly against Orlando, once, twice and then he shuddered and eased him down until he was standing once more. Holding Orlando tightly, fighting to control his wild response, David tried to end the kiss, but the pleasure of sliding his tongue into Orlando’s satin sweetness was too great to deny.

 _Just once more. Then I’ll stop and catch my breath. Just once…_

The hungry gliding return of David’s tongue drew a soft moan from Orlando. Slowly David took complete possession of Orlando’s mouth, then began to retreat from him. But he didn’t want the kiss to end. He needed more of his taste, his caresses, his elemental male passion. Instinctively Orlando’s teeth closed on his tongue, silently demanding that David stay within him.

When Orlando felt the response that ripped though David at the unexpected caress, he would have smiled. But David’s hands had shifted to Orlando’s body, finding and stroking his hard nipples, sending burst after burst of pleasure through him. His teeth released him as Orlando’s breath came in with a sound of surprise and passion and Orlando shuddered all the way to his core.

Hard, searching, hungry, David’s tongue claimed Orlando once more, stroking the sultry softness of his mouth with rhythms of penetration and retreat. David’s hands moved over his chest, long fingers stroking, kneading, teasing his nipples until they became a velvet hardness. When David plucked softly at them, the bursts of sensation that had been rippling through Orlando merged into hot currents of pleasure that turned his bones to honey.

“David, I can’t stand up,” Orlando said raggedly as he clung to David’s arms, dizzy with the violence of his own response.

“Don’t even try. I can hold you, Orli.” David said almost roughly, watching him, feeling his knees sag and at the same time feeling his own strength pouring through his body like a river of fire. “I could hold you in one hand. And I will, but not yet. There are other things I want to do first. A hundred of them. A thousand…Oh God Orli, what are you doing to me?”

Orlando opened his eyes, saw David watching him and wondered how he had ever thought David’s eyes bleak or cold. They were hot, burning, as hungry as his kiss had been.

“Put your arms around my neck,” David said moving Orlando’s hands, even as he spoke. “Hold on to me.”

His hands moved once more, stroking Orlando from hips to shoulders and back again, pressing him closer and closer to David’s body until he felt the urgency of David’s arousal rubbing frantically against his. Orlando’s response was an instinctive supple movement of his hips that dragged a groan from deep within David. His arms tightened, locking their bodies together while he moved against Orlando once, twice, three times, and each time David promised himself it would be the last.

And each time it was not.

“Open your mouth and kiss me.” David begged hoarsely, bending his head down. “I have to be inside you and that’s the only way. _Kiss me._ ”

Orlando gave David what he wanted, needing the urgent joining as much as he did. When the world shifted and spun beneath his feet, Orlando simply clung more tightly to David, his arms fierce around his neck. David held him close and hard, and even after he lowered Orlando to his camp mattress, then deepened the hungry melding of mouths, he wanted Orlando with a force that he no longer questioned, for the thought was impossible. It was all he could do to control himself.

After a long time, David shuddered and slowly--reluctantly--ended the kiss. He lifted his head and let his breath hiss out between his teeth. Nothing had ever tempted him the way Orlando did at that instant, lying warm and undefended in his arms, wanting him until he trembled with it.

“I should have taken that bath in ice water,” David said, his eyes closed and his voice rough with his own arousal. When his eyes opened he looked from Orlando’s mouth to the pulse beating in his throat and the taut nipples pressing against the soft faded fabric of his shirt. “But it wouldn’t have done any good.”

“It wouldn’t?” Orlando asked, his voice husky, his eyes sparkling with arousal.

David shook his head as he bent down to lathe his tongue across Orlando’s nipples. “When you throw a bucket of water on a wildfire, all you get is steam.”

David’s teeth closed delicately around one of Orlando’s cloth-covered peaks, drawing a ragged gasp of surprise from Orlando as pleasure streaked through his body, arching against David, silently grinding his insistent arousal against David’s in sensual reflex.

“Wildfire.” David said thickly, arching into Orlando in return. “Clean and beautiful and hotter than hell. Are you going to let me undress you or do you want to play if safe?”

“I’m always safe with you David. No matter what. I knew that the first time I saw you.”

Thick ginger lashes swept down, concealing the smouldering blue of David’s eyes. Orlando’s hands stroked his hair, his beard, his moustache, and he smiled as he gently kissed David.

“Undress me, David,” Orlando whispered, touching the tip of his tongue to David’s lips. “I’ve wanted to feel your beard on my skin for so long. I have to….feel you.” He paused. “I’ve wanted to feel your mouth on me again since you first touched me.”

David’s trembling hands moved from Orlando’s throat to his waist. Cloth fell away, revealing the golden lines of Orlando’s well-toned body. Being bared to the waist and caressed by David was new to Orlando. He blushed until he saw the look in David’s eyes. The passion and appreciation in his glance made Orlando forget that he had never been seen in this way by anyone before.

The necklace with its bundle of charms and trinkets and the tiny ring of braided gold gleamed softly against Orlando’s throat. David bent and brushed the small ring with his lips, then pierced the golden circle with the tip of his tongue, touching the warmed skin beneath. The intimacy of the instant made pain and pleasure twist deeply inside David, foretaste of what would happen if he let control slip from him.

David knew he should stop now, leaving Orlando as untouched as he had found him; and he knew he would not, could not walk away. Not yet. Orlando was too beautiful, too warm, and David had been too long without warmth and beauty.

David’s hands moved, skimming the curves and peaks of Orlando’s bare chest. Orlando gasped as something deep within him shimmered and burst into fire. With a combination of hunger and anticipation, David watched his tiny nipples tighten even more under his touch until they begged for his mouth. But he had seen Orlando’s first blush, sensed the instant of uncertainty when his chest was bared to David’s eyes, his hands.

“I could hold you down and devour you,” David said huskily, aching to taste all the shades of honey and caramel, to know all the textures of Orlando’s body. “And you know it don’t you? Would you mind my mouth on you? Talk to me, Orli. I don’t want to shock or frighten you.”

Orlando tried to speak just as David’s fingertips delicately pinched one peaked nipple. A shivering hot sensation raced through Orlando. He pressed David’s hands more closely to his chest and looked into David’s eyes. “I’m not frightened, David. I know that you’ll never use your strength against me, and that’s all that matters.”

Orlando lifted one hand and ran his fingertips over David’s beard, over his moustache, over his lips and dipped into the sultry heat of David’s mouth in a sensuous foray that made his breath break. He laughed softly at David’s surprise.

“As for shocking me,” Orlando whispered, “some of the thoughts I’m having right now just might shock you. I’m inexperienced, not frightened or repelled. Touch me however you want to. Teach me how you want to be touched. Because I want to touch you, David. I want to give you what you want, what you need, everything you ever dreamed. I want…everything.”

For long moments, David fought a pitched battle for self-control. Orlando couldn’t know what he was doing to David, what he was offering, what David had wanted so fiercely since he had first seen Orlando walking toward him in Helm’s Deep and heard Summer call to him in a husky British accent.

Orlando was a gift he shouldn’t take.

He was a gift David couldn’t refuse.

“Orlando…”

David tried to say more. No words came that equalled his need. What did come was a silent vow that he would unwrap Orlando’s gift gently, using the discipline learned in war to bring pleasure rather than pain to the man that was watching him with eyes the colour of molten chocolate, all the passions of life in his voice, every emotion he had vowed never to feel whispering to David, promising him…everything.

 _Heaven and hell and the rainbow burning in between. Orlando was his pot of leprechaun gold._

David curled his tongue around the caressing fingertip, sucked, bit gently and released.

“Does that mean you won’t mind if I take off your boots and socks?” he asked softly.

Orlando smiled.

With a swift motion David shifted until he was kneeling at Orlando’s feet. Before Orlando could take a deep breath, David had slipped off his boots and slid his index fingers beneath the top of his socks, circling his ankles, stroking him, making him gasp at the unexpected sensitivity of his own skin. With a smooth movement, David stripped Orlando’s socks away, leaving his feet naked. He fitted a palm against the arch of each foot and rubbed slowly, and watched unexpected pleasure transform Orlando’s expression.

"You know my body better than I do," he said. "Your hands are so warm and hard. I love your hands, David."

David turned and rubbed his beard against Orlando's instep, heard his breath break, felt him shiver. His teeth closed gently while the tip of his tongue drew a line of fire beneath Orlando's arch. Orlando's toes curled and he made a breathless sound. Slowly, David released Orlando's feet. His hands stroked from Orlando's ankles up the length of his legs and then on to the waistband of his jeans, the back of his fingertips barely skimming the heated ridge of Orlando's arousal. There David stopped and looked into Orlando's eyes.

“Whatever you want,” Orlando said, huskily. “Just tell me what to do, David.” His hand drifted to press against David’s arousal. “Tell me what to do to please you, too.”

“Your trust…” David’s eyes closed, then opened brilliant with an emotion that was as great as his passion and as deep as his pain. “Fairy tale boy, having you give yourself to me is more pleasure than I’ve ever known.”

David bent and brushed his mouth over Orlando’s lips, the tiny ring laying in the hollow of his throat, the taut velvet tips of his nipples.

Soft sounds came from Orlando, sighs like flames rippling higher as his jeans were smoothed caressingly down his body by David’s hard and gentle hands. When Orlando realized that he was naked and David was looking at him, he trembled. David trailed his fingers through the tangle of dark curls surrounding Orlando’s throbbing arousal, he eased his long fingers across the taut sacs before sliding into a tight fist around Orlando’s satin hardness. Holding him in one firm hand, his other hand traced the vulnerable softness of Orlando’s brow.

“It’s alright,” David whispered against Orlando’s mouth, “You’re not naked anymore.”

His hand moved gently, sliding against flesh that was already throbbing, sensitized. Orlando’s breath broke, caught, broke again as something shimmered and burst softly, repeatedly, inside him, melting his soul. David felt the unmistakable slick heat of Orlando’s response as his thumb brushed across his tip and groaned even as he tightened his slick, sliding grip on Orlando’s arousal.

“Kiss me, Orlando. Let me inside you.”

Orlando parted his lips and felt the hot, gliding penetration of David’s tongue. The startled sound that Orlando made was transformed into a throaty cry of passion that David drank as he deepened the kiss, his hand sliding in a clinging, grasping grip from root to tip of Orlando’s throbbing arousal. The repeated sensual forays sent more shimmering waves expanding through him.

All thought of shyness fled Orlando, leaving him in the grip of enthralling passion. When David’s touch redoubled, Orlando shivered and cried out. David drank that cry, too, and his caresses deepened as his thumb slid across the slick tip of Orlando’s penis.

Sensual lightning searched through every cell in Orlando’s body, drawing a surprised cry from his lips. Deliberately, David closed his teeth on Orlando’s neck, both distracting him and increasing the intensity of his body’s response to the hot, intimate movements of David’s hand. His thumb returned again and again, spreading the liquid fire of Orlando’s body, teasing him, inciting, him, urging him higher and higher, drawing the sensual tension in him tighter and tighter until finally his breath stopped and his pleasure burst, his hips arching off the bed and into David’s touch as his fluids pulsed across David’s fingers.

Gently David withdrew his touch. He gathered Orlando against himself and held him, trying to ignore the violence of his own unsatisfied need. It was impossible. Every breath he took was spiced with Orlando’s fragrance, infused with his warmth and the soft weight of his body against him burned.

After several minutes Orlando sighed and stirred. “You were right. My hand’s aren’t shaking anymore.” Orlando kissed the base of David’s neck and felt the instant speeding of his pulse and the shiver that went through his body. “But yours still are.”

“I’ll live,” he said tightly.

“I’m glad to hear that, because I’m going to need your help.” He slid from David’s arms and went to work on the laces of his boots.

“Orlando what are you doing?”

“Taking off your boots.”

“I can see that.” He said roughly.

Orlando smiled. “I thought you could.” He pulled off one boot and sock, then the other. “Watch closely and you can see me taking off your jeans too.”

David’s hands flashed out, grabbing Orlando’s wrists as he reached for David’s waistband. Smoldering blue eyes searched Orlando’s face. “You don’t have to.”

“Would it shock you to know that I want to? You have a beautiful body, David. Touching you would be like stroking a cat, all steely muscles and satin pelt.

David’s eyes closed as he bit back a groan of need. The realization of how close he was to the limits of his control shocked him.

“Not. Now. Orli.”

Orlando leaned forward, bracing himself against David’s torso. His mouth sought David’s. When his lips refused to open, Orlando ran the tip of his tongue across them.

“Yes now.” He breathed.

“ _You ask too much of me,_ ” David said in a low, savage voice. “What happens if I lose control and take you? I could hurt you.”

As Orlando looked down the length of David’s body, his eyes changed, becoming a luminous, rich, dark chocolate. “Yes, you certainly could.”

The approval in Orlando’s voice was as seductive as the glide of tongue over his lips had been. David closed his eyes, no longer able to bear the sight of Orlando kneeling naked by his side. David wanted Orlando’s hands all over his skin, he wanted Orlando’s mouth, he wanted Orlando’s hot, silky body fitted to him.

David didn’t know he had released Orlando’s hands until he heard the first metal snap of his shirt open. The other snaps followed in slow succession, for Orlando was enjoying each new bit of masculine territory that was revealed by the steady retreat of the black flannel shirt. Finally Orli tugged the shirttails free of his jeans and ran his hands almost greedily over David’s chest.

The pleasure Orlando took in touching David made the air wedge in his throat. He was smiling dreamily while his fingers kneaded through the wedge of ginger hair that began at his collarbone and narrowed to a finger’s width just above his navel. When Orlando smoothed his way back to David’s chest and bent to kiss him, his chest brushed against David’s lightly. He shivered as the cushion of hair on David’s chest teasing his nipples to life once more.

“I’m new to this,” Orlando whispered, moving again, this time deliberately increasing the sweet friction of his nipples against David’s chest. “But I’m assuming that we’d both like the same kind of touching.” His hands searched through the rough silk of David’s chest hair, seeking and finding the flat nipples, teasing them into hard points. “If I’m wrong, let me know.”

David’s breath hissed between his teeth as pleasure lanced through his body, tightening it as surely as the nipples hardened beneath Orlando’s fingertips. This time when Orlando’s tongue traced his lips, they opened hungrily, both accepting and demanding a deep mating of mouths. By the time the kiss ended, his skin was slick with a sultry sheen of passion and he was breathing much too hard.

Knowing he shouldn’t, needing Orlando too much to stop himself, David lifted him astride his half naked body and, pulling him down to him, took one hard male nipple into his mouth. As he shaped him with the changing pressures of teeth and tongue, he felt the sudden arching of his back, the clenching of Orlando’s thighs on his hips, the gentle rocking of Orlando against his rampant arousal. He groaned and pulled him more deeply into his mouth, loving Orlando’s responsive nature.

“I’m supposed to be – pleasuring you – not the other way around!” Orlando said, fighting for breath that had deserted him without warning.

After a last lingering love-bite, David released his nipple. “Turning you on pleasures me.”

Before Orlando could answer, David’s mouth moved to his other nipple. He licked its caramel-coloured peak until Orlando shivered and tightened in a rush that made him moan. His lips parted hungrily as he nipped at the supple flesh within the heat and velvet of his mouth.

“It’s a dangerous thought,” David said finally, his voice thick.

He released Orlando with a slow reluctance that was itself a caress. He trembled again and again. David felt him rock against his desperate arousal. He swore softly, shockingly, even as one hand traced his spine to the small of his back and, from there, down the warm cleft below, his finger brushing across Orlando’s entrance until he gasped in pleasure.

“Too damned dangerous...” He whispered.

“W-why?”

One of David’s hands flattened between Orlando’s shoulder blades, pressing him tightly against his chest, while his other hand trailed across his lips. Pressing one finger into Orlando’s mouth, he drew in a sharp hiss of breath as Orlando mimicked his earlier actions, swirling his tongue around David’s finger and nipping it gently.

Pulling his finger free of Orlando’s sucking lips, his hand trailed down Orlando’s back, exploring the flesh that had known only his touch. Caressing his entrance gently, teasingly, Orlando’s breath went out in a moan as David’s fingertip pushed inside, drawing forth a long, keening moan from Orlando’s lips.

David’s hand retreated, returned, caressed, and when Orlando moaned so did he. Long, wet kisses shared, one hard hand tangling in Orlando’s curls as a second and a third finger plunge into Orlando’s body, calloused fingertips brushing across Orlando’s sweetspot. Orlando’s thighs gripped David’s hips tighter, his back arched, his head thrown back as a strangled moan was dragged from his lips by the sensations.

When David’s hand retreated again, there was a muted sound of metal buttons opening one at a time. Gently, inexorably, David’s hands eased Orlando’s weight farther down his body until the hard length of his arousal pressed up against Orlando’s rapidly growing arousal. Only the thickness of David’s underwear prevented the joining of their bodies.

The barrier was not nearly enough for safety.

“That’s why it’s dangerous.” David said savagely.

For a moment, Orlando couldn’t answer. The elemental fitting of their bodies together had just taught him how much had been missing from his previous taste of passion. The realization was dizzying, like the heat spreading up in waves from David’s body, his wildfire melting Orlando. Instinctively he moved his hips, slowly, softly, hotly, getting as close as he could to the hard flesh despite the barrier of cloth.

David had meant to shock Orlando from his passion with the blunt reminder of his arousal, but he was the one who was shocked. The response of Orlando’s body against his own leaking arousal spread through the thin barrier between them as though nothing were there at all.

And then nothing was.

A sweep of his hands, a muscular twist of his body and David lay naked between Orlando’s legs. Orlando made a soft sound of discovery and approval at the new territory David had given to him. David watched through narrowed blue eyes while Orlando’s fingertips caressed and traced hot satin skin, learning the contours of his hunger, capturing the single drop of salty fluid David could not contain.

Orlando lifted a fingertip to his lips and touched it to his tongue. “Now I know what you taste like.”

A groan was dragged out of the depths of David’s soul. His hands moved, lifting, seeking, finding, joining his body with Orlando. He tried not to. The blunt head of his arousal pushed against Orlando’s prepared body. David tried with all his soul to stop himself joining with him completely. Then he saw that Orlando was watching him take him and his eyes were like sunrise, burning away darkness, hungry for the day to come. His name was torn from David’s lips, his hands finding Orlando’s hip in a bruising grip pulling him down onto him, filling him completely in a single incandescent instant.

Orlando’s breath unravelled as he accepted the transformation, taking all of David in until he was hot and sleek around him, fully alive and lush with passion; David’s name was a chant on his lips. As he bent to kiss David, the motion shifted his body around him, caressing him, clenching tightly around him, calling to him in a communication far older and more potent than words.

“Don’t move.” David said hoarsely. “For God’s sake, please don’t move.”

“Why?” Orlando breathed, moving, shivering, moving again because he had never felt anything so perfect as being joined with the man he loved.

“I can’t--control--”

Even as David’s voice broke he reached for Orlando, drawing his mouth down to his, hungry for every bit of him. He rolled over swiftly, taking Orlando with him, pinning him with his hips, making it impossible for him to move. Shaking with the violence of his restraint, David began to withdraw from Orlando.

But only when a last, tantalizing fraction joined them, David found he couldn’t force himself to leave Orlando completely. Body rigid, he fought for the self-control that had been his only weapon and defence against life’s treachery.

Orlando’s voice broke over David’s name. He shivered and whispered fragments of words, passionate sounds without meaning, pleading and demanding, knowing only that he must be completely joined with him again or die.

‘Once more, fairy tale boy,” David breathed against Orlando’s lips. “Just once.”

Slowly he pressed into Orlando again, filling him, feeling Orlando cling to him with tiny hot movements that were as involuntary as the beating of his heart. He withdrew even more slowly, and once again could not force himself to leave Orlando entirely. Fists clenched, eyes tightly shut, skin gleaming with sweat, David fought to make his body obey the demands of his mind.

Then Orlando moaned and slipped his hand between their bodies to frantically stroke his own arousal. His eyes squeezed closed, head thrown back, his face a mask of such utter bliss that it hurt to look at him. With an anguished sound David thrust into Orlando once more, filling him, giving himself to Orlando with each elemental surge of his body until the gift was finally complete. As David collapsed against him, Orlando whimpered, his own release spurting between their bellies.

And then David lay spent on Orlando’s chest, felt their hearts beating together, tasted their mingled breaths and understood the full extent of his self betrayal.

 _My god, how could I be such a fool?_

The only answer was as bitter as it was true. The self-discipline that had been the very core of David’s survival had been breached at the same instant as he had taken the final barrier of Orlando’s innocence. David could not have been more foolish. Orlando could not have wounded him more savagely if he had slid a knife between his ribs and into his heart.

Silently David withdrew from Orlando, dressed swiftly and walked away. With each step he prayed he would have the strength to build his defences once more, and this time build them so high and so deep that he would never again be touched by the devastation of Orlando’s sweet and fatal fire.  
[ Chapter 12](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3269.html)  



	12. Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists <12/31>

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has pushed and prodded me into working on this. Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/).

_  
**Western Lovers: Cowboys & Biologists (12/31)**   
_   
  
[   
](http://photobucket.com)

**Title:** Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists  <12/31>  
 **Author:**[](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/profile)[ **sassywitch**](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/)  
 **Beta** the patient and talented [](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/profile)[**charlieisagirl**](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/)  
 **Pairing:** OB/DW  
 **Rating:** NC-17 for the series, PG-15 this chapter.  
 **Summary:** David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.  
 **Feedback:** Feedback is my writers crack, which is not to be confused at all with plumbers crack.  
 **Disclaimer:** Not at all true in reality. These men whilst adorable and perfectly happy to slash themselves, their actual relationship is something that they only know. This story is adapted from a series of books that I adored when I was younger written by Elizabeth Lowell.  
 **Word Count:** 2610  
 **Previous Story:** Can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1656893.html)  
 **Previous Ordaisy chapter:** As suggested by [](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/profile)[**mystery_ink**](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/) can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1650642.html)  
 **Previous Chapters:** [ Chapter 1](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/353.html)|[ Chapter 2](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/597.html) |[ Chapter 3](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/910.html)|[ Chapter 4](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1032.html)|[ Chapter 5](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1359.html)|[ Chapter 6](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1630.html)|[ Chapter 7](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2014.html)|[ Chapter 8](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2254.html)|[ Chapter 9](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2332.html)|[ Chapter 10](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2625.html)|[ Chapter 11](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3070.html)

 **Posted to:** [](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/profile)[**fellowshippers**](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/) , [](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/profile)[**monaboyd**](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/) and [](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/profile)[**ordaisy**](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/)  
 **Header Art:** Courtesy of the incredibly talented [](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/profile)[**loki_girl**](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/).  
 **Author’s Notes:** Thank you to everyone who has pushed and prodded me into working on this. Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/).

~*~*~*~*~*  
As always when Baby was around, Orlando woke up at dawn. As had become his habit in the past week, he looked automatically to the place where David’s bedroll had been.

It was empty.

It had been empty for seven days. He had no reason to believe it wouldn’t always be empty. David had made love to him--made him cry out with the pleasure and beauty of his touch--and then had left without a word. David hadn’t been back since.

 _Why did you leave, David? When I asked you why you hated wanting me, you told me it was because you couldn’t have me. Then we made love and you walked away as though nothing had happened. Why, David? Didn’t I please you?_

Blinking back the tears that would do no good, Orlando got up and quickly began preparing his breakfast. His breath made silvery white plumes in the cabin’s cold air. The Chinook had been followed by a cold northern wind that had settled in as though it meant to stay until summer. Last night, a thin veil of snow had fallen once more over the land, making the ground glitter with white.

“If that mama cougar has gone hunting, we’ll find her tracks. Then I’ll finally find her den. Right, Baby?” Orlando asked, his voice husky from lack of use.

The big animal’s ear pricked alertly at his first word. His yellow eyes had a gemlike clarity as they followed Orlando’s every motion until breakfast was eaten and the cabin was put in order.

“Ready to go tracking?”

Instantly baby was on his feet, vibrating with eagerness. He pawed at the front door.

“I thought you would be. This time, let’s find something bigger than a bobcat.”

Baby whined and pranced, understanding only that his favourite activity was about to begin.

Vowing to think only about cougars and not the man who had touched his soul and walked away as though nothing had happened, Orlando opened the door and let Baby out. He shot across the clearing and raced into the sparse forest like a low-flying shadow.

Orlando slipped on his backpack and walked quickly out into the light. The tracks Baby left were crisp, clear and unnecessary. Orlando knew where he was going: to the creek in the bottom of a ravine and up the opposite slope to the base of the big fir tree where the cougar had first been spotted. The cat had managed to elude her trackers since the wild chase two weeks ago.

While looking for the mama cougar, Orlando had found the tracks of two other cougars, photographed them, logged them and followed them as far as possible. One had been a young cat searching for territory unoccupied by others. The boundary markers left by resident cougars had discouraged the young cat, pushing it along until it was beyond the boundaries of Orlando’s study area.

The second cougar whose tracks Orlando had found was apparently a permanent resident, but it didn’t have a den, which meant that it wasn’t a female with cubs. Cougars without cubs covered as much as thirty miles in a day. Following such animals was very difficult, even when Baby’s nose was thrown into the effort. In bad weather, tracking cats without radio collars was impossible.

Orlando had pinned his hopes on David’s belief that the ‘big tree cougar’ was a mama. The fact that the cat had vanished for the past two weeks was encouraging rather than discouraging. It probably meant that the fir tree was more toward the edge of the cougar’s territory than in its centre and the cubs were keeping close to home. But a mama cougar nursing cubs had to eat to keep up her own strength, which meant she had to go out and hunt. Hunting cats left tracks, especially in freshly fallen snow.

When Orlando reached the tree, Baby was casting about for fresh scent. When he found none, he looked to Orlando. He whistled. Baby shot off along the shoulder of the rise, quartering a new area. Orlando followed his progress, whistling or calling occasional instructions, communicating with him in a code that the two of them had worked out over years of hunting together.

Three hours later and seven miles’ distance from the big tree, Baby struck fresh tracks. His howl electrified the silent land. Instantly, Orlando whistled for Baby to return. He obeyed on the run, mouth wide, pink tongue lolling, laughing up at him when he found him.

At Orlando’s signal, Baby fell in step at his left heel. So long as Baby hadn’t been penned up for days, he was more than happy to collaborate on the hunt. In the past week, he had gotten plenty of exercise. Orlando had spent as little time as possible within the cabin, for it was haunted by David’s absence.

A few minutes later Orlando was studying the tracks Baby had found. They was indeed fresh. More important, the tracts had been left by the cougar Baby had once treed; the slightly oversized toe on the cat’s left front paw was unmistakeable. Eagerly, Orlando followed the tracks, moving quickly. The forest thinned even more, giving way to a boulder-strewn, south-facing slope. The tracks suddenly came very close together, almost overlapping. Abruptly the tracks dug in hard and deep – and vanished.

Orlando paced off the length of empty snow until the tracks began again and whistled soft approval.

“Thirty three feet in a single bound. Not bad for a young female.”

Through binoculars, Orlando scanned the landscape immediately in front of him. The wind gusted, shifting and swirling down the slope, blowing from his back rather than across his face.

Suddenly Baby threw back his head and howled.

“Quiet,” Orlando said without putting down the glasses. Baby yapped and danced.

“ _Heel._ ”

Baby heeled. And whined very softly.

“Settle down, Baby,” Orlando said impatiently, still scanning the landscape. “What’s gotten into you?”

“Me.”

The sound of David’s deep voice made Orlando spin around and stare in disbelief. The first thing he noticed was that David had a rifle slung across his back. The second thing he noticed was David’s eyes: cold as the wind, as dispassionate as the sky and full of shadows, so dark they actually hurt Orlando.

“There was a decent tracking snow,” David said, “So Billy sent me back up here to help you.”

Like his eyes, David’s voice lacked emotion.

“Sent you,” Orlando repeated. “I see.”

Orlando turned back and began scanning the landscape with a composure that was pure desperation. His heart was beating much too hard, too fast, and his hands would have shaken if he hadn’t gripped the binoculars until his knuckles showed white.

 _Billy sent me. Sent me. Sent me._

The words echoed in Orlando’s mind, slicing into him. David couldn’t have made it clearer that he hadn’t sought him out for any reason other than a direct order from the owner of the Double L.

“Tell Billy thank you, but it’s unnecessary,” Orlando said when he could trust his voice once more. “Baby and I do our best work alone.”

“Billy didn’t ask if you needed me. He told me to check on you.”

“You have. I’m fine.”

Narrowly David surveyed the straight line of Orlando’s back. He heard his words, but he couldn’t accept them. This voice belonged to a stranger, flat where Orlando’s had been vibrant, thin where his had been rich.

“You don’t sound fine,” David said.

Orlando said nothing more.

David swore beneath his breath. He walked silently up to Orlando, not wanting to get any closer but unable to stop himself. As he moved, his body was tight with the conflict that had been tearing him apart since his self-control had broken and he had taken and surrendered to Orlando in the same passionate instant.

“Damn it, I didn’t want it to be this way,” David said harshly. “I didn’t want you to be hurt.”

Orlando lowered the binoculars. They were useless anyway, for his eyes were too swimming with tears to see anything at all.

“Is that why you left without so much as a word? To keep from hurting me?”

“What was I supposed to do, tell you fairy tales about love? I won’t lie to you, fairy-tale boy. You knew it when you came to me at the cabin and burned me alive.”

Abruptly David stopped speaking. Memories of Orlando’s sensuality were lightning strokes of pain that scored him repeatedly, like the lash of a cat-of-nine-tails against tender skin, giving him no peace, ripping through new defences and old, scoring across the unhealed past, threatening to touch him as he had vowed never to be touched again.

And he fought his hunger as he had never fought anything except death itself. Wanting, not wanting, fighting himself and Orlando, trapped in an agonizing vice, David turned Orlando to face him and saw the silver glitter of unshed tears swimming in his chocolate eyes.

“Don’t you understand?” David whispered savagely. “ _I can’t be what you want me to be._ ”

Orlando closed his eyes. “A man who believes in love.”

“Yes,” David said flatly. His hard thumbs tilted Orlando’s face to his and his fingers trembled against Orlando’s skin. “I told Billy I wouldn’t come up here. He told me I could take his orders or I could pack up and leave the Double L. I packed, but I couldn’t let you run me off the only home I have, so I came up here knowing I would hurt you all over again.”

“David…” Orlando whispered, reaching to him.

“No! I don’t want to hurt you again, but it’ll happen just the same unless you stop asking me to kiss you every time you look at my mouth, stop asking me to touch you every time you look at my hands, stop asking--” David’s eyes closed, then opened once more, clear and hard and cold. “I would sell my soul not to want you, Orlando, but the devil took it a long time ago and I want you with a need hotter than hell burning.”

As Orlando looked at David’s ice-blue eyes, a chill moved over him. David was a wild animal caught in a trap, and Orlando was that trap. The knowledge was in his eyes, shadows and bleakness, watchfulness and calculation and fear and, most of all, an agony that drew David’s mouth into a hard line. This was a trapped animal that was contemplating gnawing off his own leg to escape.

David’s pain was as real as the unsheathed claws of his honesty.

Orlando took a deep, shaking breath and acknowledged the truth. “I understand. You won’t love me. I can’t help loving you. Too bad, how sad, and all that. Meanwhile, the earth turns and the seasons change and babies are born and some die and there’s not a damn thing we can do about that, either.”

“Orlando….”

Orlando waited, hoping in spite of himself.

“Orlando, I...” David made an odd, almost helpless gesture with his hand.

After a moment, Orlando smiled with the bittersweet acceptance that he had learned after Savannah’s death.

“It’s alright, David. I was warned going in, and several other times along the way, and that’s more than we usually get out of life. You don’t have to love me. I’m yours without it, if you want me. And even if you don’t.”

David’s jaw tightened against the pain of Orlando’s acceptance of what he was and was not. “That’s not….” His throat constricted again, taking away his ability to speak.

“Fair?” Orlando suggested.

Orlando’s smile was as sad and enigmatic as his changing chocolate eyes. David looked away, unable to bear what he was doing to Orlando.

“I thought you didn’t believe in fairy tales, warrior.”

“I don’t.”

“Then don’t talk to me about ‘fair’. If life were fair, my sister would have celebrated her birthday today. But life isn’t and she didn’t and wailing about it won’t change one damned thing.”

David looked back slowly. His eyes were intent, fierce, searching Orlando’s. “You really mean that?”

“I always say what I mean. It’s a failing of mine.”

“You don’t believe in fairy tales, but you do believe in love,” he said, unable to understand. “Knowing what life truly is, you still allow yourself to love.” David hesitated, not wanting to hurt Orlando anymore but unable to stop himself from asking, “How can you?”

Orlando looked into the untamed depths of David’s eyes and saw a curiosity that was as great as his wariness, as intense as his passion…a wolf circling closer and closer to the beckoning campfire, pulled toward the flames against his deepest instinct of self preservation, enthralled by the radiant possibilities of fire.

“How can I do anything else?” Orlando said simply. “Look at what man goes through, daily and still we laugh, we love, we live. Not just survival, David. _Living_.”

[ Chapter 13](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3428.html)   



	13. Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists <13/31>

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has pushed and prodded me into working on this. Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/).

_  
**Western Lovers: Cowboys & Biologists (13/31)**   
_   
  
[   
](http://photobucket.com)

**Title:** Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists  <13/31>  
 **Author:**[](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/profile)[ **sassywitch**](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/)  
 **Beta** the patient and talented [](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/profile)[**charlieisagirl**](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/)  
 **Pairing:** OB/DW  
 **Rating:** NC-17 for the series, and for this chapter.  
 **Summary:** David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.  
 **Feedback:** Feedback is my writers crack, which is not to be confused at all with plumbers crack.  
 **Disclaimer:** Not at all true in reality. These men whilst adorable and perfectly happy to slash themselves, their actual relationship is something that they only know. This story is adapted from a series of books that I adored when I was younger written by Elizabeth Lowell.  
 **Word Count:** 4499  
 **Previous Story:** Can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1656893.html)  
 **Previous Ordaisy chapter:** As suggested by [](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/profile)[**mystery_ink**](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/) can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1650642.html)  
 **Previous Chapters:** [ Chapter 1](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/353.html)|[ Chapter 2](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/597.html) |[ Chapter 3](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/910.html)|[ Chapter 4](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1032.html)|[ Chapter 5](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1359.html)|[ Chapter 6](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1630.html)|[ Chapter 7](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2014.html)|[ Chapter 8](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2254.html)|[ Chapter 9](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2332.html)|[ Chapter 10](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2625.html)|[ Chapter 11](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3070.html)|[ Chapter 12](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3269.html)

 **Posted to:** [](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/profile)[**fellowshippers**](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/) , [](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/profile)[**monaboyd**](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/) and [](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/profile)[**ordaisy**](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/)  
 **Header Art:** Courtesy of the incredibly talented [](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/profile)[**loki_girl**](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/).  
 **Author’s Notes:** Thank you to everyone who has pushed and prodded me into working on this. Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/).

~*~*~*~*~*

Pushing open the cabin door and slipping almost silently into the cabin and out of the heavy rainstorm outside, David’s mouth went dry as his eyes fixed on his lover.

“There’s a towel by the fire.” Orlando said, turning away from David even as he spoke.

With eyes that reflected the leap of flames, David watched Orlando. He knew that Orlando was making no effort to be sexy, yet the firelight dancing off his glistening, golden skin was so enticing it loosened David’s knees.

Lightning bleached the interior of the cabin in the instant before David closed the door. Baby lay sleeping soundly in the coldest part of the cabin. The wolf didn’t even lift his head at David’s arrival.

“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to interrupt. I’ll wait over here, give you some privacy,” David stammered, watching hungrily as Orlando brushed a soft washcloth across one shoulder. The action stole the moisture from David’s mouth.

If Orlando said anything in response, it was lost in a crash of thunder. David watched from the corner of his eye as Orlando sunk deeper into the water. Peeling off his black t-shirt, David grabbed the towel. The soft terry cloth was warm against his chilled skin. The knowledge that Orlando had deliberately warmed the towel by the fire made the brush of the cloth more pleasurable on his skin. The thought of having Orlando’s warm, elegant hands on his body instead of the towel made his blood rush heavily. David’s hands clenched the towel as he fought his response to Orlando.

“It’s a big tub, David.” Orlando spoke without looking back at his lover. “You’re cold and wet, the water is hot…We could share?”

“You know exactly where that will lead,” David stated, his teeth clenched as the memories of being buried deep inside Orlando’s body filled his soul.

Orlando shrugged and looked over his bare shoulder at David. “And?” he whispered. “We’re big boys. If we both want it, why not?”

“Because it’s wrong.” David answered flatly. “Because we shouldn’t.” He walked slowly to the edge of the tub and fell to his knees, one hand reaching out to touch Orlando’s damp curls gently. “Because, Fairy Tale Boy, I can’t give you what you want.”

Orlando turned his face to nuzzle against David’s hand. “I haven’t asked you for anything, David.”

 _Stop thinking about it. Stop feeling the tight grip of his body around me.  
Right. And while I’m at it, I’ll stop breathing, too._

David’s hands went to the buttons of his cold, damp jeans. He hesitated, remembering, then shrugged and resumed undressing. He doubted that Orlando would care; he had seen David dead naked and painfully aroused before and hadn’t fainted at the sight.

A memory exploded in David with a force so great it stole his breath – Orlando warm across his thighs, touching him, stroking him, cherishing him, tasting him, whispering of life itself.

Savagely David whipped off his damp jeans, wadded them up and fired them across the cabin. The soft thump of cloth against wood couldn’t conceal the sound of the sudden rush of air through Orlando’s lips when he saw David’s naked body outlined by firelight and knew beyond doubt the hunger raging in him.

“David…” Orlando’s husky whisper shivered like firelight in the silence, his hand reaching out to touch David’s hip tentatively.

Slowly David turned toward Orlando. Fighting himself every second, losing every second, David lifted one leg over the side of the tub, pulled against his will one slow inch at a time until at last he stood in the tub, breathing deeply, trying to stop the fine trembling of his hands. He could not. As though driven by a whip, he closed his eyes and sank to his knees, water cascading over the edge of the tub. His hands became fists on the powerful, clenched muscles of his thighs.

A moment later David sensed movement, heard the sounds of water sloshing around them, and felt Orlando’s breath brush warmly over his fists. Light kisses touched David’s hands, gentling him even as the caresses seared him to the bone. With a ragged sound of pain and pleasure, David unclenched his fists and reached for Orlando.

As Orlando came to his knees before him, David eased his fingers deeply into the fragrant silk of dark hair, tipped that beauteous face up to his hungry lips and locked their mouths in a searing kiss. It wasn’t enough. No matter how wild, how sweet, how deep, he couldn’t get close enough to Orlando with just a kiss. He couldn’t touch him completely. He couldn’t bathe in Orlando’s fire.

“Orli…” David said hoarsely, tightening his hands in Orlando’s hair. “Orli…let me…”

“Yes,” Orlando whispered, not even waiting to find out what he was asking of him.

A shudder ripped through David. His eyes opened. They smoldered with reflected flames as he looked at Orlando kneeling in front of him, watching him, wanting him.

“Lift your arms, fairy-tale boy.”

As Orlando raised his arms, the graceful motion reminded David of the shadows he had seen on the curtains as Orlando had climbed into the tub. David’s hands slid from Orlando’s hair, down to his hips and back up again. Watching Orlando at every instant, he slowly traced the line of muscles up Orli’s body until his thumbs brushed his hard masculine nipples. Abandoning the tiny peaks, David stroked Orlando’s upper arms and shoulders, caressing the sensitive skin of his inner arm.

“When I saw your shadow moving while you undressed.” David said, bending down to Orlando’s chest, “I was so damned jealous of the washcloth I thought I would go crazy. I wanted to be the one rubbing over you, tasting you, getting you wet, making your skin shine in the firelight.”

The satin heat of David’s mouth rubbed warmth and dampness over first one of Orlando’s nipples, then the other, making him tremble. When Orlando would have lowered his arms to hold David, he moved swiftly, holding Orlando as he had been with Orlando’s back elegantly arched and his chest defenseless against his mouth. His tongue circled one nipple, his teeth gently raked and Orlando gasped with pleasure. Before Orlando could catch his breath, David was softly--completely--devouring him.

The sweet changing pressures of David’s mouth on his skin sent fire streaming through Orlando’s blood. Orlando shivered and David’s name broke on his lips. David’s answer was the renewed tugging of his mouth, the sweet stabbing of his tongue, pleasure gathering and bursting until Orlando cried out and he made a low sound of satisfaction and triumph. For long shivering minutes David pleasured Orlando, holding him suspended between firelight and his hungry mouth. When he finally lifted his head, Orlando’s skin was taut, flushed, and his skin shone in the firelight.

David looked at Orlando for a long time, memorizing the picture he made. Then his burning glance moved down Orlando’s body and he shivered with an eagerness he had never known and could barely control. When he spoke, his voice was thick, rasping, as caressing as his hungry mouth had been.

“Stand up, fairy-tale boy.”

Orlando made a sound that was halfway between a laugh and a protest. “I can’t.”

With a quick motion David swept his hands down Orlando’s body, long fingers clasping his slender hips and his shoulder muscles bunched as he lifted Orlando to his feet.

“Brace your hands on my shoulders,” David said.

Orlando obeyed. Feeling the water sluicing down his skin, leaving him naked but for what lapped at his calves. David’s hair gleamed golden as he lifted Orlando’s right foot, caressing the high arch lovingly with his fingertips, and he brushed a kiss over Orlando’s inner thigh. Slowly David released Orlando’s foot as he rubbed his beard against the warmth and resilience of Orlando’s skin. When David reached for Orlando’s other foot, his beard smoothed over Orlando’s flesh once more.

“I love your beard,” Orlando said with a broken sigh of pleasure.

“I’m glad.”

David’s voice was like his beard, a soft, silken rasp of sensation that made Orlando melt. He shivered again as David lifted his other foot, caressed it, and released it.

“Do you like this too?” David asked.

Orlando felt the brush of David’s beard against his inner thigh and the hot touch of his tongue, the sweet heat of his lips. For long moments David’s mouth moved over Orlando’s thighs, sliding higher, shifting him subtly, parting his legs a bit more with each gentle kiss. The sight of David’s gingery hair against the golden expanse of his own skin sent rippling sensation throughout Orlando’s body, echoing the supple dance of firelight.

“David?”

Orlando’s husky whisper sent a tremor through David. The kiss David was giving him changed. David’s lips met Orlando’s burning arousal wetly; the sensation was just short of pain and simultaneously a pleasure so intense it made him moan.

Orlando gasped. For an instant David froze, afraid that the gentle scraping of his teeth had hurt Orli; then he felt the gentle undulations of Orlando’s hips. David’s hand shifted, seeking the base of Orlando’s heated arousal, finding it, sliding across it with a caress that made Orlando gasp.

The sight of David touching him so intimately made passion and a little embarrassment twist hotly through Orlando. He pushed against David’s shoulders, silently asking to be released. It was like pushing against sun warmed stone. David’s fingers skimmed against Orlando again, sliding and withdrawing slowly, dragging a ragged moan of protest from Orlando. Slowly David’s head turned up to Orlando until he could see the blazing blue of David’s eyes.

“Did I hurt you?” David asked huskily as he let Orlando sink back into the water.

Orlando shook his head and started to speak, but seeing David’s mouth so close to his own hungry flesh scattered his thoughts.

“Watching you-you were looking at me-watching me while you-” Orlando’s voice broke on a sensual shudder that he couldn’t control.

“Did it embarrass you?” David asked.

Orlando nodded and whispered. “A little.”

“Did you like it?” David asked softly.

“Yes.” Orlando said, his voice low. “I liked it so much I…”

“Any other objections?” David growled.

Orlando nodded, “You stopped.”

Orlando’s voice shattered into a moan as David stole his hand under the water to close his fingers around the flesh that only he had ever touched.

“Then close your eyes, fairy-tale boy,” David said, sinking into the water, gently biting the soft skin of Orlando’s belly, “Or what you’re going to see will make you blush to the soles of your perfect feet.”

“I don’t understand,” Orlando whispered.

“Neither do I,” David admitted, brushing his bearded cheek against the curls that so tempted him. “I’ve never wanted anyone the way I want you. I want all of you. Everything. Every way there is.”

David’s hand moved again, gliding along the silken, steel heat of Orlando’s arousal, silently asking for his permission. The slow advance and retreat of David’s touch tantalized Orlando, making him hungry for more. Compelled by David’s gentle seduction of his senses, Orlando lay back against the edge of the tub, his legs parting further, until he was trembling and breathing brokenly, his eyes heavy lidded, almost closed, and his body desperate for whatever caresses David was willing to give.

The touch of David’s tongue astonished and unraveled Orlando in the same wild instant. David’s name was torn from Orlando’s lips as his nails dug into the flexed power of David’s shoulders. David’s response to the sensuous bite of Orlando’s fingernails was a low sound of pleasure and hunger and anticipation. David’s big hands shifted quickly and closed around Orlando’s hips until he was held in a passionate vise. Unerringly his mouth slid up and down the silken length of Orlando’s arousal. With a tenderness that was all the more shattering for it’s restraint, David slid his teeth delicately along Orlando’s length, before holding the tip hotly captive while his caressing tongue stripped away all thought of embarrassment or inhibition.

Orlando shuddered heavily and made a ragged sound of surprise and pleasure, holding on the David’s shoulders. The steamy intimacy of David’s mouth was a delicious assault against which Orlando had no defense. Nor did he want any, for Orlando trusted the warrior who held him within his grasp, his elemental male sensuality a lesson and a lure to Orlando’s own response. A searing spiral of sensation whirled around Orlando, driving him higher and higher with each caress until he twisted like fire within David’s grasp.

And like fire, Orlando burned.

The wild, broken sounds of ecstasy shivered through David. His mouth caressed Orlando again and again, hungry to hear more of his pleasure, unwilling to release the passionate responses of the man he had only just begun to explore. Slowly he lowered Orlando’s hips, but even then David couldn’t release him, not completely. His hand curved around Orlando’s golden hip, the other brushing across Orlando’s gleaming chest as he kissed Orlando’s navel and then slipped slowly beneath the water, his mouth closing around Orlando’s arousal.

Orlando tried to speak but could not. David’s hand was sliding between his legs, rubbing lightly, pressing against his entrance, and a long finger was pressing into him as though David was sipping his secrets one by one. David’s name came from Orlando’s throat in a husky moan as ecstasy speared though him unexpectedly once more, driving him to the edge of a secret place only David had taken him to before. David’s fingers were inside him, touching him, sharing his pleasure. As he released him and lifted his head from the water, rivulets sluicing across his skin, his golden hair plastered against his head, David watched him. David’s caress redoubled, deepened, and so did Orlando’s response.

“David?” Orlando whispered, not understanding why he stopped, when he had brought Orlando to the very brink of ecstasy.

But David understood. “I’ve shown you one way, fairy-tale boy. This is another.” David’s voice was low, dark, and he spoke without looking away from the picture made by his hand and the smooth golden curves of Orlando’s body. “I want them all. Every. Last. One. There’s no tomorrow, no yesterday. There’s only the night and the storm and the fire, you and me and …this.”

David’s hand moved again, taking the world from beneath Orlando and sending him spinning. He gasped David’s name and was rewarded by another deeper caress.

“Look at me,” Orlando said huskily.

“I am. I never knew a man could be so beautiful.”

David bent down and traced the tip of Orlando’s arousal with his tongue, even as his fingers brushed across the sweet spot deep inside his body. The sight of David caressing him so intimately sent shock waves through Orlando’s mind and body. He felt cherished, threatened, protected, wanton, a man locked within storm and fire and night, and the essence of all three was the warrior with the haunted blue eyes and gentle hands.

“I love you.” Orlando said raggedly. “I love you so much I can’t-” Ecstasy burst within him, breaking his voice.

“I don’t want love,” David said, his voice as dark as the shadows pooled in his eyes. With a swift, powerful movement he was between Orlando’s splayed legs, water sloshing over the edge of the tub, his own arousal poised at the very entrance to the inviting Orlando he had made his own. “All I want is _this_. But I shouldn’t take you. Unprotected. Undefended.” A harsh shudder went the length of his body as he fought against himself, against him. _Damn you, Orlando, you’re tearing me apart.”_

“Take me,” Orlando whimpered, reaching for David, touching the hot hard flesh that he desired, loving all of him. “And I’ll take you, all of you, lover and warrior and man, everything you want to give, every way there is, no recriminations and no regrets. That’s what love is David, and I’ll love you till I die.”

With a tearing sound that was both pain and pleasure, David thrust into Orlando’s body, joining with him in a union that was both savage and sublime. When he could go no deeper he held himself completely still but for the shudders that racked him as his untamed hunger sought to escape the restraints of his discipline.

Orlando wrapped himself around David and held him, feeling each tremor of need that tugged at David’s control. Orlando’s fingertips probed through David’s hair and then down the rigid muscles of his back and hips, wanting to touch all of him at once, to surround him with loving warmth.

When Orlando’s slender fingers discovered the shadow cleft between his lean hips and the tight, shockingly sensitive flesh below, David’s whole body jerked. Making soft sounds of discovery and pleasure, Orlando’s hand explored the changing textures of David’s need. Closing his hand around the taut sac at the base of David’s arousal, he watched David’s face and struggled to hold onto his own control. Groaning, David drove even more frantically into Orlando, all his defenses stripped away, held lovingly in the palm of Orlando’s hand.

With a new understanding he felt the primal shivering pulses of David’s release, his name breaking again and again on David’s lips, and whimpered his own release and love against David’s open mouth. After the last tremors finally faded, Orlando felt David’s body shift. Remembering the time before when David had made love to him and walked away without a word, Orlando tightened his arms.

“Don’t leave me,” Orlando whispered. “Not yet.”

“I won’t.” David made a harsh sound. “I can’t.”

Orlando looked into his eyes and saw the savage leap of reflected fire. Before Orlando could speak, David was talking again, his voice raw.

“You asked for all of me. I hope you meant it, fairy tale boy, because you’re going to get what you asked for. Every damn bit of it, everything I have to give.”

David’s lean hips moved and Orlando’s breath rushed in at the sensations streaking up from their joined bodies.

“I just had you,” David said harshly, his voice as savage as his eyes, “and I’m ready for you again. That’s why I walked out on you before. I knew I would take you again and again until finally I didn’t even have the strength to lick my lips - _and then I would still want you_. It’s never been like that for me with anybody. You’re in my blood like fever and my body is on fire. I’m going to do the same thing to you that you’re doing to me, fairy tale boy. I’m going to burn you alive.”

Rising to his knees in the cooling bathwater, David wrapped his arms around Orlando’s hips and staggered awkwardly to his feet. Climbing from the tub, David walked as far as his bedroll and sank to his knees on top of the rumpled bedding.

Orlando’s legs wrapped around David’s hips, as David’s hand guided himself back into the warm clench of Orlando’s body, soft mewling whimpers falling from Orlando’s lips.

David bent and took Orlando’s mouth, opening it with a quick twist of his head, searching his body even as David pinned him beneath the hard weight of his own. One powerful arm slipped beneath Orlando’s hips, pulling him even closer, holding Orlando so tightly that David could feel the bones beneath his soft flesh and Orlando could feel his. Then David began moving, driving into him, taking all of him again and again, hot skin sliding against hot skin until the sweet friction ignited soft flesh with an intensity that shocked Orlando.

Orlando called David’s name wildly and saw his eyes blaze with response. David rocked hard against him and then harder still, fanning the passionate fire, driving into him until sweat gleamed on both their bodies and Orlando cried out as ecstasy raked him with incandescent claws.

And still there was no end, no peace, no safety, for David was still moving inside him in a rhythm as relentless as it was savage, driving him higher and yet higher until Orlando felt as though he were going to die, as though he had been ripped from one world and thrust into another and in this one he was on fire. With a wrenching moan he arched into David, burning fiercely, needing even more of him, telling him what he needed with words that also burned.

“You’re feeling it now, aren’t you?” David said darkly as his teeth scored Orlando’s ear. “This is what you did to me the first time I saw you, before I ever even touched you, a burning all the way to the marrow of my bones. And then I had you and it still wasn’t enough, it’s never enough, because there’s always more and it’s always just out of reach, a rainbow on fire against a black sky, untouchable and so damned perfect it tears at your soul until you bleed but it doesn’t make any difference because your blood is on fire too and you just keep burning!”

Twisting, burning, caught between heaven and hell, hearing his dark voice and fiery words, Orlando fought for the embrace, for the fulfillment he knew blazed just beyond his reach. David bent down to him, holding him motionless while he caught Orlando’s mouth with his own. Orlando drank his wild hunger, matched it, demanded more and yet more of him until David drove into him, pinning Orlando beneath him, grinding against him as though he would become a part of Orlando or die.

Impaled on ecstasy, consumed by wildfire, Orlando would have screamed but he had no breath, no voice, no being. He felt David shuddering beneath rapture’s savage blows, heard him cry out as though in torment, but Orlando couldn’t help him for he was David and David was him and together they were the rainbow stretched between heaven and hell, burning.

When the searing fire finally released Orlando, he lay spent beneath David, the sticky evidence of his release on their taut bellies, stunned by the passion that had consumed both of them, feeling their bodies fight for breath, for reality. When their breathing finally slowed, David eased himself from Orlando, caught his face between his hands and looked down into the many hues of his dazed chocolate eyes.

“All the colours of life,” David whispered, brushing Orlando’s lips with his own.

As one person, they felt his heartbeat deepen as he quickened against Orlando’s body once more.

“David?” Orlando whispered.

“I can’t stop it. I don’t want to even try. It’s as new to me as it is to you. Fairy tale boy, all sweet chocolate fire.” He whispered. “Burn with me, boy.”

Gently David joined his mouth with Orlando’s, caressing him sweetly, drinking him with the slow shared rhythms of remembered hunger and release. The kiss was like his heartbeat, deep and unhurried, certain. Urgency was a distant echo, pleasure a shimmering companion, and their breath whispered as softly as flames in the hearth.

The kiss went on forever and ended as gently as it had begun, drawing a murmured protest from Orlando, for he didn’t want it to end. David’s lips brushed across his once more, stilling Orlando with a gentle caress that promised things he had no words to say, only a certainty whispering deep inside him, shimmering with pleasures as yet untouched, unknown, unnamed, waiting for them, ecstasy burning as softly as his kisses.

The brush of David’s lips closed Orlando’s eyelids. Orlando sighed as the moist tip of his tongue traced his eyelashes, his hairline, his temples, and David’s breath caressed his sensitive skin. David’s words sank gently into Orlando as his teeth and tongue caressed his earlobes, the soft line of his neck, the hollow of his throat, tasting him, sipping him, discovering him. His mouth moved slowly from his shoulders to his fingertips, his chest, his belly, then down his long legs to the soles of his feet.

David was a warmth moving over Orlando, his caresses telling him that he was more beautiful than life, more perfect than fire. The velvet heat of his tongue was heightened by tiny bites so gentle they made Orlando softly moan. When David knelt between his legs, touched him, cherished him, Orlando almost wept as he gave what he asked for, opening for him like a flower. David whispered his name and his beauty against his skin, asking for yet another gift, and he gave it to David, too, slowly responding to his fire.

With a gentleness that made Orlando tremble, David kissed him, slid his hands beneath his knees and slowly raised his legs, moving them apart with soft pressures and whispered words. Then David lifted his head and looked into Orlando’s eyes, asking that he trust him in this as he had trusted him in so much already.

The contrast between the heavenly gentleness of David’s hands and the shadowy hell in his eyes tore at Orlando’s heart. He trembled and gave his body to David’s keeping, heard his name wrapped in the dark velvet of David’s voice as he gently curled his legs back on him , leaving nothing secret from David.

There was no embarrassment in Orlando this time when David looked at him, kissed him, once, twice and then let his tongue trail across the flesh beneath Orlando’s arousal, weighing his scrotum with his tongue, moving up to trail higher to flick at Orlando’s tip. Sliding his body against Orlando’s slowly, he brought himself to Orlando’s entrance, watching the union as he pressed into him. The taking was so gentle, so slow, David’s eyes so black, so wild that Orlando unraveled in shivering ecstasy. Orlando saw his undoing echoed in the shudder that rippled through David, but his slow claiming of Orlando’s soul did not speed up in the least. David took Orlando the way dawn takes the night, moment by moment, breath by breath, leaving nothing unclaimed, nothing hidden.

And when David filled him, all of him, sealing their bodies while Orlando watched, he softly moaned at the completion. Tiny convulsions stole through him to David as Orlando shimmered and burst soundlessly into flame. David rocked slowly against him, his movements as gentle and overwhelming as Orlando’s body unraveling, bathing him in soft flames, rocking, rocking, and Orlando wept, and still ecstasy came to him, repeatedly, and each time the gentle rocking, rocking of David’s body breathed life into him once more.

And still he rocked kindly, filling Orlando, bathing in his fire as they gave themselves to one another in secret molten pulses, burning away the world, leaving only their interlocked bodies and an incandescent ecstasy that had no ending, only beginnings, renewing and consuming and burning until finally they fell asleep, still intimately joined, their interlocked bodies gleaming in the firelight.

Yet even in sleep, Orlando wept, for he had seen the darkness in David’s eyes and knew he would wake alone.

[ Chapter 14](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3585.html)


	14. Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists <14/33>

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has pushed and prodded me into working on this. Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/).

_  
**Western Lovers: Cowboys & Biologists (14/32)**   
_   
  
[   
](http://photobucket.com)

**Title:** Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists  <14/33>  
 **Author:**[](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/profile)[ **sassywitch**](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/)  
 **Beta** the patient and talented [](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/profile)[**charlieisagirl**](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/)  
 **Pairing:** OB/DW  
 **Rating:** NC-17 for the series, and for this chapter.  
 **Summary:** David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.  
 **Feedback:** Feedback is my writers crack, which is not to be confused at all with plumbers crack.  
 **Disclaimer:** Not at all true in reality. These men whilst adorable and perfectly happy to slash themselves, their actual relationship is something that they only know. This story is adapted from a series of books that I adored when I was younger written by Elizabeth Lowell.  
 **Word Count:** 2506  
 **Previous Story:** Can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1656893.html)  
 **Previous Ordaisy chapter:** As suggested by [](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/profile)[**mystery_ink**](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/) can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1650642.html)  
 **Previous Chapters:** [ Chapter 1](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/353.html)|[ Chapter 2](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/597.html) |[ Chapter 3](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/910.html)|[ Chapter 4](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1032.html)|[ Chapter 5](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1359.html)|[ Chapter 6](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1630.html)|[ Chapter 7](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2014.html)|[ Chapter 8](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2254.html)|[ Chapter 9](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2332.html)|[ Chapter 10](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2625.html)|[ Chapter 11](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3070.html)|[ Chapter 12](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3269.html)|[ Chapter 13](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3428.html)

 **Posted to:** [](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/profile)[**fellowshippers**](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/) , [](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/profile)[**monaboyd**](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/) and [](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/profile)[**ordaisy**](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/)  
 **Header Art:** Courtesy of the incredibly talented [](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/profile)[**loki_girl**](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/).  
 **Author’s Notes:** Thank you to everyone who has pushed and prodded me into working on this. Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/).

~*~*~*~*~*

Caressing his tiny daughter’s head gently, Dom nuzzled his nose against her face. Watching her inquisitive green eyes, he smiled at her and touched the tip of her perfect nose with one long finger. He spent so much time with her and her siblings, but still every facial expression and sound she made was new to him.

For the briefest of moments, Dom regretted waking when he heard Lana’s grumblings via the baby monitor on the bedside table. He had laid there for a few moments, watching Billy sleep, his hair tousled, his face pressed into the pillow beside Dom’s head, dark shadows smudging his cheekbones. A loving smile turned up the corners of Dom’s mouth as he remembered their slow, languid lovemaking last night. Billy had gone back to work after dinner and returned to shower and crawl into bed long after the children were happily sleeping. Every morning, Billy woke at the first sound of wakeful babies and fed and changed their children; it was a routine that had happened shortly after the babies arrived. Billy worked so hard on the ranch he didn’t have the time to spend with the kids. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to, because Dom could see the regret in Billy’s eyes when he came home at night and he had missed another bedtime. Dom hated to steal the morning from Billy, but he looked exhausted and Lana’s cries didn’t rouse him as they usually did. So he had pressed a soft kiss to Billy’s forehead and rolled out of bed to tend to their children.

“You just wanted to spend time with Daddy, didn’t you?” Dom cooed at her.

Deftly balancing her in the crook of one arm, he opened the microwave door before it could beep at him. Screwing the nipple onto the bottle of warmed formula, he tested its temperature quickly.

“Shhh.” Dom jiggled Lana as she began to fuss in his arms, “It won’t be long, Baby-doll. Just a couple more minutes and you can have breakfast on the porch with DomDaddy,” he murmured to her as he opened to door. “Just you and me, Doll-face; we’ll let everyone else sleep just this once.” Dom crooned to the little girl as he carried her the length of the porch. “Your papa deserves a sleep in, and since I’ve only got one pair of hands, wouldn’t you like to have my undivided attention?” Dom asked her quietly as he sank down onto the porch swing, rubbing the milky nipple against her rosebud lips. Smiling as her mouth closed around the rubbery teat and began sucking hard, Dom watched her tiny hands lifted to pat at the sides of the bottle.

“Need a hand?” David’s voice sounded quietly, startling Dom badly.

“Jesus, Daisy,” Dom murmured, his voice unsteady, a tremor visible in his hands. “For fucks sake, don’t bloody do that.”

“Sorry,” David laughed. “I forget you’re delicate.”

“Sod off,” Dom glared at him, a broad smile splitting his face. “Wanker.”

“Not so much,” David replied, as he sat on the swing beside Dom.

“How is Loverboy?” Dom grinned, looking slyly at David.

“I wish you wouldn’t fucking call him that,” David sighed.

“Are you shagging him?” Dom asked with a chuckle. “Is he male? I think it’s the perfect title for him.”

“I don’t love him. He doesn’t love me.” David stated, adamantly. “And I sure as hell don’t want to talk about him.”

“Right.” Dom drew the word out in disbelief as he thrust Lana’s bottle into David’s hand. Lifting Lana to his shoulder, Dom rubbed her back gently, cooing in her ear until she belched loudly. “I’ve seen that look before, Daisy. You might fool him, but you can’t fool me. You left him while he was sleeping again, didn’t you?”

“I won’t sleep with him, Dom.” David sighed, “He’ll expect too much.”

“Okay,” Dom nodded sagely. “You’ll fuck him, but you won’t sleep with him. What is it with your family?”

“You know Billy was concerned about your reputation. He was worried about the way the ranchhands would treat you.” David almost breathed a sigh of relief, happy to direct the conversation away from Orlando.

“So….What’s your excuse?” Dom questioned quietly. “We both know that you’re in mutual love and lust, so why not let him wake up in your arms, just once. God forbid, you might even like it.”

“Just for the record, it’s lust, not love. What the fuck is it with you?” David sighed, passing Lana’s bottle back as Dom settled her back in his arms. “Just because you’re in love, you sappy bastard, it does not mean that we all want to be. Some of us do just fine on our own. Some of us don’t need to wake up tangled up with another person.”

“You’re so full of shite, Daisy.” Dom laughed, dropping the subject for the time being.

Both men sat silently, David’s booted feet pushing gently on the floor, swinging them slowly. The slurping noises Lana made as she suckled around the nipple was the only sounds for several minutes.

“You never told me, what was your degree in?” Dom asked, his long finger caressing Lana’s cheek as she sucked slowly on her bottle.

“That’s a random subject change, even for you,” David laughed.

“I’m trying to talk Billy into finishing his,” Dom explained with a shrug, “I thought that might be able to convince him of changing his major to Archaeology.”

“He’d like that. It’d be nice to see him finish it; he really enjoyed the study. I think not finishing was one of the things he really regretted.” David explained.

“So what did you study?” Dom asked again.

“Nothing important,” David replied quickly.

“So? Tell me.”

“I’m not going to get out of it, am I?” David sighed.

“Nope.” Dom almost laughed at the crestfallen expression on David’s face.

“I wasn’t interested in studying, but Billy insisted that I get a degree, so by the time I enrolled, all the classes I wanted to take were full. The ones I ended up taking my first semester were simply because they were the only ones still available. After that semester, I kept them up because I ended up loving them.”

“C’mon,” Dom said as he turned slightly to face David, snuggling the now sleeping Lana against his chest. “Don’t tease me.”

“You fucking laugh, I swear I’m gonna kick your ass.”

“Just spill it, you silly git.” Dom was already laughing.

“Victorian Literature, specifically Romance poetry and Textiles.”

“You’re telling me _you_ have a degree in love poems and sewing?” Dom’s eyebrows nearly shot over the back of his head as he struggled not to laugh.

“Knew I should lie.” David shook his head. “And it’s not just fucking sewing, it was learning about costuming, and sewing, knitting, crotchet and all things in between.”

“ _You….YOU_ can knit?” Dom chuckled.

“Of course I can.” David shrugged, “Can’t you?”

Dom angled him a disbelieving look, his eyebrows arched speculatively. “Actually, no.”

“You don’t know what you’re missing, son.” David nodded authoritatively.

“Knitting?” Dom asked quizzically.

“Why is it so unbelievable?” David questioned.

“Because….” Dom gestured towards him vaguely, “Look at you, Daisy! You’re hardly genteel nana material.”

“I’ll have you know,” David grinned as he replied, “I graduated in the top percentage point. Besides, by my second year, I was the envy of every male on campus. I was closer to the girls and their virtue than any of them would ever be.”

“And that worked for you?” Dom grinned at the mental image.

“The girls and I spent many a night comparing notes on the male half of the student body.”

“So why didn’t you follow your heart?” Dom asked, his finger tracing his daughter’s cheek as he spoke.

“I did,” David assured him.

“But you enlisted.” Dom frowned.

“My brothers were both in the military. Family stays together.”

“You’re all absolutely nuts.”

“No.” He shrugged as if his answer explained everything. “We’re family.” David leaned into Dom’s side and let his hand cup Lana’s silky head. “When it’s all you’ve got there’s nothing more powerful than family.”

“What about the family you make for yourself?” Dom murmured, carefully steering the conversation back to Orlando, watching David’s calloused fingertips lovingly trace his niece’s head.

“Not everybody finds what you and Billy have.”

“No. They don’t.” Dom replied. “But you have, haven’t you? And that knowledge frightens the living crap out of you, doesn’t it? That’s the real reason you won’t sleep with him in your arms. You can see in Orlando what Billy sees in me and you’re terrified that you’ve found the One.”

“I didn’t come here to talk about this with you. I can’t, Dom, and I won’t.” David stood, stalking to the other end of the veranda and back again.

“Too late now. Won’t what?” Dom frowned.

“I saw what happened to my mother, I saw it crush Billy, and I’ve seen it eat Craig alive. I will not sacrifice myself on that altar for anybody.” David turned to lean stiffly against the railing, his face turned to the horizon as the golden ball of the sun began to lift above it.

“Sacrifice?” Dom quirked an eyebrow as he spoke. “That’s a harsh comparison, isn’t it?”

David turned on Dom, his face filled with an incredulous expression. “Don’t you remember how you felt when Billy sent you away?”

“Of course I do,” Dom began to explain, but David cut him off.

“I remember, too well. You were heartbroken, Dom, but he was broken. It wasn’t even like that for him the first time. I’ve watched Craig hand his heart out to be crushed time and again. He’s a lot like Mama in that way: he needs to love and be loved. I watched my mother’s need for love and adoration slowly squeeze the soul out of her, until she was just a shell. Even loving her sons wasn’t enough; love killed her, Dom.” David leaned back against the railing, his voice a husky growl as he spoke. “I will not do that. You and Billy were damned lucky. I’ve got my brothers, I’ve got my nieces and nephew, I have good friends. I won’t need the one thing that will break me.”

“Even for Orlando?” Dom asked quietly.

“Especially with Orli,” David verified, his lips pressed together in a tight line.

“Why? Because he got inside? Because he loved you without reservation? Because you want to break his heart?” Dom frowned, standing and moving to stand directly in front of David.

“Because I don’t want to hurt him anymore than I know it already does. Because I know he’s going to get hurt and I can’t let that happen, not to him. Because I’ve seen what love does to people.” David stalked further along the veranda angrily. “I can’t. I won’t. End of story.”

“You don’t get it, do you, Daisy?” Dom murmured sadly, his long fingers gently caressing his daughter’s head as he spoke.

“Don’t get what?” David growled.

“Doing this…being an absolute ass, that hurts him more than anything else. You don’t want to hurt him, you should never have touched him.”

“Thanks for the fucking update, Dom.”

“Then talk to him, Daisy. Tell him why, don’t just creep out in the middle of the night like an uncaring asshole.”

“It’s the only way I can do this and not tear us both apart,” David murmured. “I’ve already hurt him. I won’t make it worse.”

Dom frowned, pressing one long fingered hand against David’s chest. “Hurt him?”

“I tried to choke him. He touched me while I was sleeping. Before I woke up, I had him pinned to the ground, my hands around his neck. The poor bastard had almost passed out before I realized what the hell was happening.”

“It’s a conditioned response, Daisy. A lot of soldiers have the same responses, the same fears. You’ll lose that.”

“Before or after I actually kill him?”

“You won’t kill him; you won’t even physically hurt him. Your love won’t let you,” Dom explained.

“I. Don’t. Love. Him.”

“He does.” Standing, Dom walked slowly back into the house, leaving David to contemplate their discussion.

Unfolding his lean frame, David followed Dom inside. “What do you mean, he does?”

“Exactly what I said, you great git,” Dom replied, carefully handing his sleeping daughter to David and turning to rinse the bottle in the kitchen sink.

“How do you know that?”

“I’ve seen him with you, Daisy. We all have,” Dom sighed. “You have to be an idiot not to see the love and adoration in his eyes, when he looks at you.”

“Then you stop him!” David exclaimed. “You have to make him stop it. I don’t want him to love me. You tell him. He won’t fucking listen to me. I don’t love him and I never will.” Lana squirmed in David’s arms as his hold tightened on her, his body tensing with anger as he spoke to Dom.

“Oh for fuck’s sake, Daisy,” Dom replied calmly. “You’re an adult. He’s your boyfriend, so shouldn’t you be having this conversation with him?”

“He is _not_ my boyfriend,” David hissed quickly, his hold gentling on his niece as he rocked her gently, soothing her.

“Jesus, Daisy, you fuck him, he loves you, and you adore him regardless of what you say. What would you call him?” Dom asked, one eyebrow quirked. “Convenient shag? Or maybe just a good fuck?”

“If that’s what it takes to make you stop talking about him.” David stood straighter as he spoke, his mind actively seeking a definition for his new friend.

“You know that’s not going to happen anytime soon,” Dom murmured, leaning in to lift Lana from David’s arms. “Besides, it won’t stop you thinking about him, will it?” Dom glanced up into David’s face before he continued speaking. “You don’t have to tell me: I know and I can see it in your face. You two aren’t so different from Billy and I. And I know you’ll be lying if you tell me he’s not your first thought when you wake and your last before you sleep. You think about him when you see a beautiful sunrise, or hear a bird sing. You’ll look at something mundane and so boring every day and want to share it with him, just because you can, and you’ll see the beauty in everything, just because you’re sharing it with him. And you do that every single fucking day. Don’t even bother denying it.”

“Dominic, I swear if you weren’t holding that little girl, I’d knock you on your skinny ass,” David hissed, his fingers caressing his temples trying to will away the pain beginning to throb there.

“No you wouldn’t,” Dom replied looking up into David’s face. “You know why? You know every word I’ve spoken is the truth.”

“I don’t love him.” David growled.

“Liar.” Dom started to walk out of the kitchen. “There’s aspirin in the cupboard over the sink. Take some, then take the lube from the top shelf of the medicine cabinet. Go back to your lover, and this time treat him right, Daisy.”

[ Chapter 15](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3915.html)


	15. Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists <15/33>

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  ~~Because this is a new chapter that I only added on the weekend, my poor overworked beta hasn’t had a chance to give this a look see yet. So any issues are mine, and will be corrected as soon as Charlie has had a chance to go over it for me.~~ All fixed. I thought you’d forgive me, because otherwise there would have been a delay in the posting schedule. Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/).

_  
**Western Lovers: Cowboys & Biologists (15/33)**   
_   
  
[   
](http://photobucket.com)

**Title:** Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists  <15/33>  
 **Author:**[](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/profile)[ **sassywitch**](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/)  
 **Beta** the patient and talented [](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/profile)[**charlieisagirl**](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/)  
 **Pairing:** OB/DW  
 **Rating:** NC-17 for the series, and for this chapter.  
 **Summary:** David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.  
 **Feedback:** Feedback is my writers crack, which is not to be confused at all with plumbers crack.  
 **Disclaimer:** Not at all true in reality. These men whilst adorable and perfectly happy to slash themselves, their actual relationship is something that they only know. This story is adapted from a series of books that I adored when I was younger written by Elizabeth Lowell.  
 **Word Count:** 2506  
 **Previous Story:** Can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1656893.html)  
 **Previous Ordaisy chapter:** As suggested by [](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/profile)[**mystery_ink**](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/) can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1650642.html)  
 **Previous Chapters:** [ Chapter 1](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/353.html)|[ Chapter 2](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/597.html) |[ Chapter 3](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/910.html)|[ Chapter 4](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1032.html)|[ Chapter 5](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1359.html)|[ Chapter 6](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1630.html)|[ Chapter 7](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2014.html)|[ Chapter 8](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2254.html)|[ Chapter 9](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2332.html)|[ Chapter 10](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2625.html)|[ Chapter 11](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3070.html)|[ Chapter 12](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3269.html)|[ Chapter 13](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3428.html)|[ Chapter 14](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3585.html)

  
 **Posted to:** [](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/profile)[**fellowshippers**](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/) , [](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/profile)[**monaboyd**](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/) and [](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/profile)[**ordaisy**](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/)  
 **Header Art:** Courtesy of the incredibly talented [](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/profile)[**loki_girl**](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/).  
 **Author’s Notes:** ~~Because this is a new chapter that I only added on the weekend, my poor overworked beta hasn’t had a chance to give this a look see yet. So any issues are mine, and will be corrected as soon as Charlie has had a chance to go over it for me.~~ All fixed. I thought you’d forgive me, because otherwise there would have been a delay in the posting schedule. Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/).

~*~*~*~*~*

David dragged his pack out of the back of the truck, smiling as Baby sidled up to him. He dropped his pack to the ground and knelt, rubbing his fingers through the wolf’s thick ruff.

“How’s your master?” David asked against Baby’s ear.

David grinned: Baby’s only response was to lick the side of his face.

Standing, David waited long enough to watch Baby run lithely across the clearing, disappearing amongst the trees, before he slung his pack over his shoulder and moved towards the cabin.

Pausing at the small window, he watched through the gap in the curtains. Orlando sat on his bedroll, his golden chest bare, his tousled curls finger combed, his worn button-fly jeans open as he sat lacing his heavy hiking boots, thick red socks disappearing under the worn leather. The flames licking at the wood in the hearth cast Orlando’s skin in rich golden tones and glinted at deep red highlights in the chocolate mane that framed Orlando’s face. A gentle smile curled David’s lips as he listened to the soft words tumbling from Orlando’s lips: a song that was unfamiliar to David, but in Orlando’s voice was soothing and calming and put a smile on the hardened warrior’s face.

Moving towards the door, David turned the doorknob slowly and stepped inside. Making no secret of his desire, David let his eyes rake up and down Orlando’s body, visually tasting the skin that his mouth hungered for.

Orlando looked up as David entered the cabin. He had known that David would be back sometime today. It had been seven days since he had left him alone and well-loved, his body aching in ways he never knew existed.

As they watched each other, David pushed his hand into his front pocket, drawing Orlando’s eyes to the impressive ridge of arousal he was making no effort to conceal. Withdrawing his hand, David tossed the contents of his hand onto the bedroll. Tearing his gaze from David’s crotch, Orlando let his eyes look at the small bottle that had been thrown. Lubricant.

Looking up at David’s face, he quirked one expressive eyebrow in question, a nervous smile tugging at his lips as he did, before turning his attention back to his boots and slowly and carefully untying the laces he had just finished lacing up. David watched, his fingers itching to reach out and help divest Orlando of the barriers of clothing that stood between them.

Pulling his feet from the boots, Orlando quickly flicked the thick hiking socks from his feet and turned so that he lay along his bed roll. The movement pushed his jeans low enough that dark curls pushed against the mostly open V of his jeans, his weight supported on his arms.

“I didn’t come here just to fuck you, Orli.” David growled.

“I know,” Orlando replied, one hand dropping to open the few closed buttons on his jeans.

“You don’t have to do this.” David’s teeth clenched together as he pressed his body back against the door.

“I want to,” he purred.

“What if I don’t?” David asked, his hands pressed flat against the wall behind him.

Orlando let his eyes travel up and down David’s body, pausing briefly as he gazed hungrily at David’s growing arousal. He shook his head slowly, curls bouncing around his face. “Your body says different.”

“I don’t take orders from my body,” David stated even as he pushed away from the wall.

“David?” Orlando spoke softly, almost plaintive.

“What?” David lifted his head to search Orlando’s eyes carefully.

“You’re wearing too many clothes.” He lifted his buttocks off the bedroll and started to slip his jeans over his hips.

“I don’t want to hurt you.” David whispered, as his fingers began to unbutton his shirt. “Have you forgotten last week? I hurt you.”

“Not one delicious minute.” Orlando pushed his jeans from his lower legs. “You’re right, you did. I did hurt, but not anymore.”

“I was wrong to hurt you.” David fell to his knees, letting one hand trail up Orlando’s bare leg.

“You didn’t really hurt me. I ached. I burned. Every time I moved I could feel that you’d been inside me. It wasn’t real pain, David, and if I were to be honest, I hated that the ache faded. But I don’t know what else to call it. It was the most exquisite pain I’ve ever felt in my life, and honestly to see the heaven that you give me, I’d suffer it every day of the week for you.”

“Don’t say things like that to me,” David moaned, his fingers trailing across the sun tattoo on Orlando’s lower belly.

“Why? Because you’ll believe them?” Orlando answered, reaching out to rub his fingertips across David’s denim-covered arousal.

“Because you’re better than that,” David replied, his shirt sliding down his arms and falling pooled on the floor behind him.

“Better than wanting you, needing you, buried deep inside me.” Orlando shrugged. “I want you, you want me, this doesn’t need to be any more complicated than that for now.”

“For now.” David nodded, rising to kneel beside Orlando, his trembling fingers struggling with his belt as he fought to get out of his jeans.

“Hurry up, David.” Orlando tugged at the zipper, his fingers brushing across David’s arousal as he fought with the jeans.

David pushed Orlando’s hands away and opened his jeans, pushing them down his hips quickly. The denim was barely past his thighs before Orlando closed his long fingers around David’s arousal, stroking slowly.

“Don’t--” David growled. “Too much. Too soon.”

One long arm brushed David’s shoulder as his fingers cupped David’s neck, pulling him down low enough to kiss him wetly. “So? We’ve got all day.”

“Don’t tempt me, Fairytale Boy.” David spoke against Orlando’s lips.

“Well, maybe you’d better stop tempting me.” His mouth trailed over David’s face, kissing and licking as he went, his fingers passing across David’s chest to twist his nipples gently.

As he lowered himself against Orlando’s body, David’s large hands caught Orlando’s and he held both in one of his own above Orlando’s head. “You don’t know what you’re asking for, Orlando.”

Orlando lifted his head, closing his teeth gently on David’s neck, nipping at the soft skin sharply. “Oh, I’m fairly certain the invitation is clear.”

“You’re incorrigible, you know that?” David tilted his head to allow better access.

“Mmmm, I would have gone with impatient...” Orlando licked from David’s shoulder to his ear.

“Insatiable.” David added; his hips rocked against Orlando’s.

“I like that one.” Orlando caught David’s earlobe in his teeth and tugged on it gently. “We can work with that.”

“If you don’t behave yourself, this will be over before we can work with anything,” David gasped as Orlando wrapped his legs around David’s hips and undulated against him.

“I didn’t think you were all talk and no action.” Orlando whispered into his ear, following his words with the tip of his tongue.

“That a threat?” David looked up into Orlando’s flushed face, his free hand sliding down Orlando’s body to wrap around his arousal and stroke him slowly.

“I’d like to think of it as more of a challenge,” Orlando gasped, his hips pushing up, his heels digging into David’s buttocks.

Releasing Orlando’s hands, David unwound Orlando’s legs from around his hips. Trailing his mouth across Orlando’s face and throat, he pressed soft, wet kisses across his golden chest. The fingers of one hand twisted Orlando’s pert nipple gently as he laved the other with his long, wet tongue. Smiling at Orlando’s uninhibited response, arching up into him, struggling to get as close as he could.

“Patience, Fairytale Boy.”

“Thought we’d established I’m impatient.” Orlando whimpered as David’s mouth trailed across his taut belly.

“We’ll have to work on that,” David chuckled, his beard brushing against Orlando’s insistent arousal as his tongue circled Orlando’s navel.

“If that means more of this, I’m all for extra instruction.” Orlando gasped brokenly, one hand clenching in David’s hair, the other gripping a fistful of the down-filled sleeping bag they lay on.

“Think you might need a tutor?” David growled, his tongue darting out to lick at the tattoo on Orlando’s belly.

“Depends.” Orlando groaned, “There’s a rigorous interview procedure, several testing sessions. Know anyone who might be…interested?” His hips arched involuntarily, desperate for friction on his burning arousal.

“I’m not sure,” David grinned, as his teeth nipped at the tattoo gently. “I guess I could be enticed.”

“You guess?” Orlando threw his head back, a strangled moan leaving his lips as David closed his lips over the tip of Orlando’s arousal.

His tongue flicking relentlessly across Orlando’s arousal, strong hands gripped Orlando’s hips as he thrust up into David’s mouth. David chanced to look up at his young lover.

All semblance of control vanished. Orlando’s head was thrown back, his entire body taut with need, perspiration glowing on his skin. He had never been more attractive to David: wanton, desperate and throbbing. Opening his mouth wider, David’s lips slid down the length of Orlando’s arousal and sucked hard, his tongue swirling around the throbbing flesh. The stunned howl of satisfaction that left Orlando’s lips was the only warning that David received before Orlando succumbed to the desperate longing that washed over him and found his release.

As Orlando melted back boneless against the bedroll, David tenderly released the softening flesh from his mouth and slid back up his body.

“So do I get the job?” David lay beside him, slowly swirling his fingertips across Orlando’s heaving chest, his lips pressing against the younger man’s neck.

“Was there ever any doubt?” Orlando murmured, turning his face to meet David’s lips.

“I hope not.” His mouth slid across Orlando’s wetly.

“Thank you for coming back.” Orlando rolled towards David, wrapping his arms around him and deepening their kiss.

David pulled back slowly. “I tried to stay away, but you’re like a fire in my blood, Fairytale Boy. I couldn’t. I’m sorry.”

“I’m not,” Orlando murmured. “One day at a time, Warrior, we can do this. Nothing matters but what happens when we’re together. Physical, I don’t expect romance or emotion.”

“Are you sure you can deal with that?” David leaned over him, one hand brushing the curls back from Orlando’s brow.

“If it gives me you, I can deal with anything.” Orlando replied as David’s hand cupped the back of his head, long fingers caressing Orlando’s soft curls as he pulled him into a long, deep kiss.

“Careful what you wish for, Fairytale Boy. I’m a hard, cruel bastard. I’ll eat you alive and won’t even realize I’m doing it.”

“I’m a big boy, David, I know what I’m doing.” Orlando’s hands trailed across David’s belly and his long fingers closed around David’s insistent arousal.

“I hope so.” David groaned, his hips pushing into Orlando’s grip.

Orlando moved against David, burying his face against his hairy chest as he spoke. “I know what I want, too,” he murmured, his tongue licking one nipple before he lifted his face. “I want you inside me, David.”

“Do you think that’s wise?” David frowned. “You said you were sore.” David’s hand gently caressed Orlando’s hip.

“I was. Operative word: _was_.” Orlando’s hands slid across David’s length. “I want you, David.”

Orlando’s hand groped across the bedroll clumsily and pressed the small bottle into David’s hand. “You won’t hurt me, David.”

As he flipped the cap open with his thumb, David rolled Orlando onto his back and lowered his mouth to brush teasingly across Orlando’s lips. His fingers slick with the silken liquid, David traced across Orlando’s skin. Long, slender fingers brushed delicately across Orlando’s entrance. David’s mouth captured Orlando’s mewls of pleasure as he slid one slick finger into his body. Even as he pushed his finger deeper inside his lover, Orlando ground himself onto David’s hand.

Orlando wrapped his arm around David’s shoulder, trailing kisses across David’s sleek beard. “More David, please.”

Pressing a second finger inside him, David crooked, letting the tips brush across the spongy bundle of nerves he found, his lips curving into a smile against Orlando’s skin. His fingers twisted and scissored, brushing against Orlando’s sweet spot over and over as he writhed under David wantonly.

“No more.” Orlando whimpered, his head tossing against the sleeping bag, his hips pushing onto David’s fingers.

David’s hand stopped moving, his lips curving into a teasing grin as he looked into Orlando’s face. “You want me to stop then?” he asked, his voice husky.

“Nooooo!” Orlando wailed, his fingers grasping David’s shoulders, pulling him against his body, wordlessly begging for what he wanted. “I want you. Fuck me, David!”

“Thought you’d never ask.” David murmured, squeezing a dollop of the slippery liquid from the bottle onto Orlando’s palm. Needing no further encouragement, Orlando slid his hand between their bodies. He closed his hand around David’s burning arousal, the cold liquid drawing a hiss from David’s lips only to be captured by Orlando’s mouth.

Holding his weight on his elbows, he settled between Orlando’s thighs and pressed against his entrance, pushing slowly inside him.

As David’s weight settled against him, inside him, and David’s long fingers tangled in his hair, Orlando’s breath left him in a long gasp. His legs wrapped around David’s hips, pulling him deeper into his body; his heels pressed against David’s buttocks as the tension seeped from his body.

“Thought the invitation was unspoken.” Orlando groaned as David’s hips pulled back and he plunged slowly back into Orlando’s tight body.

“I’ll. Have. To. Remember. That.” David whispered against Orlando’s throat, every word punctuated with a long, slow thrust of his hips.

“Forgetting s’not an option.” Orlando’s hands trailed down David’s back, his fingers tracing corded muscles lightly. They danced across David’s buttocks, pushing him harder, deeper into him, his heels drumming against strong thighs. Orlando’s renewed erection ground between their bodies, abraded by the rough hair covering David’s belly, every undulating movement drawing him closer to incoherency. David laced his fingers through Orlando’s hair and looked into his face.

“Look at yourself.” David whispered against Orlando’s lips. “So wanton, so desperate, so hungry….all for me.” His hips thrust, faster, harder.

“Only for you...” Orlando growled, one hand lifting cup David’s head and pull him back for a wet, hungry kiss. “Rather look at you.”

“See the fire in your eyes, feel you tight around me,” David murmured, sliding his hand down Orlando’s body until he closed his fingers around arousal. “Feel you hot and throbbing in my hand, taste you on my tongue.”

“You’re making me crazy,” Orlando whimpered. “Please, David, let go, for me.”

Pressing his lips against Orlando’s throat, stringing wet, open-mouthed kisses across Orlando’s golden flesh, David moved his hands to those hips and rolled onto his back.

Looking into Orlando’s face, David watched the surprise in the rich, passion-glazed eyes as he laced their fingers together.

Orlando rested his weight against David’s hands, his thighs gripping David’s hips tightly, his hips undulating slowly, his eyes closing as new sensations washed over him.

“You like that, don’t you?” David growled, his hips thrusting upwards, plunging into Orlando’s tight heat.

“‘S good. So good…”

Gently disentangling their fingers, he rested Orlando’s hands on his firm chest. Clasping Orlando’s hip with one strong hand, his other hand closed around his arousal, stroking with a tight grip.

“Can’t…” Orlando groaned. Torn between thrusting down onto David’s body or up into his grasp, his entire body trembled with his need for the promise of release that was tormenting him.

“Don’t.” David grunted as his body frantically pounded up into Orlando’s clenching heat, struggling to maintain even a sliver of control.

“Please” Orlando breathed as his body arched into a taut bow, clenched tightly around his lover as his release pulsed across David’s fingers and belly.

As Orlando collapsed against him, David rolled, thrusting into Orlando erratically, relentlessly until he could bear the sensations no longer. The tight grip of Orlando’s body tore his release from him, and pulsing deep inside his lover’s body, he fell lethargically against Orlando’s golden chest and twisted their embrace sideways.

“Don’t what?” Orlando asked quietly, his breath warm against David’s neck.

“Don’t wait for me, ever,” David whispered into his hair, his fingers tracing across Orlando’s soaked back.

Lifting his head, Orlando slid a wet kiss against David’s mouth. Struggling desperately not to tell David of the depth of his emotions, Orlando kissed him gently, tenderly, conveying more with one kiss than his words ever could.

His fingers twisting gently in Orlando’s curls, David pulled his mouth back from Orlando’s, looking into his eyes, searchingly.

“Are you sure you’re alright with this?” David murmured, his hands stroking Orlando’s skin tenderly as he spoke.

“This?” Orlando frowned, his own fingers tangling in the hair that covered David’s chest.

“Us. Like this.” David explained, his intent blue gaze probing Orlando’s eyes.

“You won’t touch me any other way, will you?” Orlando asked innocently.

“I won’t hurt you. So, no.” David shook his head, never breaking their gaze.

Orlando closed his eyes briefly, swallowed his need to wrap his emotions around the man that he loved beyond all reason. Opening his eyes and looking bravely into David’s searching blue gaze, he gave the answer that David needed. “Fuck-buddies it is then.” Orlando smiled at David, pressing his lips against David’s again, desperate to put an end to the conversation and forget the heavy hand around his heart.

  
[ Chapter 16](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4160.html)

  



	16. Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists <16/33>

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Today’s installment is a few hours early. Why? Because I feel like shite and I’m going to go and crawl off to bed I think. I’ve had enough of the media saturation of the Memorial and I can’t cry anymore so I’m retreating. This chapter is for the Monaboyd fans. Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/).

_  
**Western Lovers: Cowboys & Biologists (16/33)**   
_   
  
[   
](http://photobucket.com)

**Title:** Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists  <16/33>  
 **Author:**[](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/profile)[ **sassywitch**](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/)  
 **Beta** the patient and talented [](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/profile)[**charlieisagirl**](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/)  
 **Pairing:** OB/DW  
 **Rating:** NC-17 for the series, and for this chapter.  
 **Summary:** David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.  
 **Feedback:** Feedback is my writers crack, which is not to be confused at all with plumbers crack.  
 **Disclaimer:** Not at all true in reality. These men whilst adorable and perfectly happy to slash themselves, their actual relationship is something that they only know. This story is adapted from a series of books that I adored when I was younger written by Elizabeth Lowell.  
 **Word Count:** 2233  
 **Previous Story:** Can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1656893.html)  
 **Previous Ordaisy chapter:** As suggested by [](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/profile)[**mystery_ink**](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/) can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1650642.html)  
 **Previous Chapters:** [ Chapter 1](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/353.html)|[ Chapter 2](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/597.html) |[ Chapter 3](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/910.html)|[ Chapter 4](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1032.html)|[ Chapter 5](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1359.html)|[ Chapter 6](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1630.html)|[ Chapter 7](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2014.html)|[ Chapter 8](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2254.html)|[ Chapter 9](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2332.html)|[ Chapter 10](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2625.html)|[ Chapter 11](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3070.html)|[ Chapter 12](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3269.html)|[ Chapter 13](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3428.html)|[ Chapter 14](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3585.html)|[ Chapter 15](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3915.html)

 **Posted to:** [](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/profile)[**fellowshippers**](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/) , [](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/profile)[**monaboyd**](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/) and [](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/profile)[**ordaisy**](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/)  
 **Header Art:** Courtesy of the incredibly talented [](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/profile)[**loki_girl**](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/).  
 **Author’s Notes:** Today’s installment is a few hours early. Why? Because I feel like shite and I’m going to go and crawl off to bed I think. I’ve had enough of the media saturation of the Memorial and I can’t cry anymore so I’m retreating. This chapter is for the Monaboyd fans. Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/).

~*~*~*~*~*

Viggo ran his fingers through his long hair, nervously fingering the envelope in his hand. Knocking at the front door of Dom and Billy’s ranch house, he stepped back from the door and leaned on the railing, waiting for a response.

“Viggo?” Billy pulled the door open, a crying baby cradled against his shoulder. “Shouldn’t you be sleeping?”

“I would but Rosie had other ideas.” Viggo winced as Lennox’s wails increased in volume. Dom appeared in the open space behind Billy, his hair mussed, his eyes heavy with the promise of withheld sleep, a grumbling Lana pressed against his chest.

“Hey, Vig…” Dom murmured, kissing Billy wearily as he stood behind him, his fingers tracing Lennox’s lips as he jiggled Lana in his arms.

“You look like shit, Dom,” Viggo commented. “Kids not sleeping?”

“It’s a conspiracy,” Dom answered. “One sleeps, the other wakes.” He shrugged.

“But we wouldn’t change it for the world.” Billy replied, lifting one hand to caress Dom’s face gently.

Dom slid Lana into Billy’s free arm and lifted the grumbling Lennox into his own, soothing him.

“You didn’t come down here to check on our children, did you?” Billy quirked an eyebrow at his friend.

“My guess is he’s trying to escape the same thing at home,” Dom chuckled, inclining his head towards the main ranch house as he noticed the lights shining there.

Viggo glanced at his watch before he spoke, immediately regretting the action as it drew everyone’s attention to the envelope clutched in his fingers. “It’s only 10.30, boys. I seem to recall you two burning the midnight oil with potshards not so long ago.”

“That was before we had four hourly feedings and crying munchkins.” Dom sighed dramatically with a grin.

“So?” Billy gestured at the envelope in Viggo’s hand. “You and Liv going somewhere, want us to keep the ship afloat?”

“Actually this was delivered for you,” Viggo sighed. “I signed for it, they brought it to our house by mistake.” Viggo’s fingers worried the edge of the envelope. “Fuck, Billy, I think it’s from Cate, and I don’t think it’s good news.”

Dom’s worried eyes glanced from Viggo to Billy, his arms tightened on Lennox, willing him to quiet so he could focus his attention and concerns on his partner. Dom’s thumb brushed across Lennox’s bottom lip softly, distracting the baby from his grumblings. Watching Billy carefully, Dom saw his lips compress into a thin line as his free hand extended to Viggo, silently requesting the envelope.

Viggo pressed the envelope into Billy’s hand, unable to delay the inevitable any longer. He had known as he signed for the telegram that it wasn’t going to contain good news; telegrams never did.  
For the briefest of moments, Viggo had contemplated not bringing the envelope to Billy until morning, so convinced was he that it was advising Billy of Craig’s demise. He knew Billy’s devotion to his brothers. The telegram would shatter him. Since he received the envelope, all Viggo had wanted for them was one last night of normal life.

Pulling the envelope open with one hand, Billy dragged the paper out and his eyes flicked across the typewritten words on the yellow paper, reading them quickly. His eyes slid closed, and he drew in a deep breath before he crumpled the paper in his strong fist and dropped it to the floor. Leaning down he pressed a kiss to Lana’s forehead then stepped forward and pressed her into Viggo’s arms. Turning, he shrugged under Dom’s outstretched hand, pushing behind him, through the door and stepping inside their house.

“I’m sorry, Dom,” Viggo murmured softly, closing his arms tightly around the wriggling baby in his arms.

“It’s not your fault, Vig,” Dom assured him, his eyes never leaving the open doorway, almost as if he could see Billy through the walls.

Viggo reached out to clasp Dom’s shoulder in affectionate gesture of support. “C’mon, we’ll put the kids to bed and I’ll make you coffee.”

Glancing back at the door, his smoky eyes filled with concern and pain for his lover, Dom shook his head. Bending to retrieve the crumpled wad of paper from the top step, Dom read the typewritten words.

 _Team 1-9 missing, four retrieved, Parker and Anderson whereabouts unknown, retrieval considered unlikely. Contact urgently._

“What the fuck does that mean?” Dom grated out in a strangled whisper as he pushed the paper into Viggo’s outstretched hand.

Viggo read the telegram quickly, remembering Craig and the young man who had made a flying visist to the Double L a few weeks ago to meet his neice and nephew. Releasing a relieved sigh, Viggo reached out to clasp Dom’s shoulder tightly, the paper crunching in his hand as he did. “It could be worse, Dom.”

“How? Craig and Darren are missing. What could be worse than that?” Dom frowned.

“I spent the entire walk down here thinking that Craig was dead.” Viggo pushed his hair out of his eyes, and readjusted his hold on Lana.

“There’s not much difference is there?” Dom frowned, one hand soothing Lennox’s forehead as he spoke.

“Of course there is,” Viggo assured him. “You know these boys, Dom: they won’t give up without a fight. They haven’t found him yet; that can only mean that he’s moving and alive.”

“You really think he’s alive?” Dom looked up into Viggo’s face.

“Absolutely. He won’t give in,” Viggo explained. “It’ll work out.”

“And until then?”

“We all do what we do best.” Viggo shrugged. “He needs you, Dom.”

For long moments Dom stood, his gaze fixed on Lennox, before he looked up into Viggo’s face.

“You’re right.” Dom stepped forward and extended an arm to Viggo, gesturing for his daughter.

“I’ll help you with the kids for a little bit,” Viggo murmured, shaking his head.

“No,” Dom answered. “We’ll be fine. There’s no need for you to be awake too.” He slid his arm under his daughter’s body and lifted her against his own.

“I’ll stay,” Viggo stated. “I wont be able to sleep anyway.”

“Seriously, Vig.” Dom murmured, jiggling his children gently in his arms. “We’ll be fine. Go home and get some sleep. We’ll be fine.” Dom vowed.

Viggo watched Dom closely, his eyes narrowing, before he reached out both hands, cupping Dom’s face.

“Are you sure?” Viggo asked quietly. “I don’t mind staying here with you, or maybe I could take the munchkins to the main house, give you some time.”

“No,” Dom shook his head. “Billy needs us all now. His family is the most important thing in his life. He needs us around him, all of us.”

“Okay.” Viggo nodded sagely. “If you need us for anything, Dom, anything at all, I don’t give a fuck what time it is, you call us, do you hear me?”

“Sure.” Dom answered quietly. “We’ll be fine, Vig. Go back to your gorgeous wife and kids.”

Viggo walked slowly down the steps, turning back to face Dom at the bottom step. “I mean it, Dom.”

“I know Vig, I swear if I need you, I’ll call.” Dom assured him.

Dom jiggled the babies distractedly as he watched Viggo walking back towards his home, before he too went inside. Returning to the nursery, Dom tucked Lana and Lennox into the crib, crooning gently to them as they grumbled. He waited patiently until both were settled before he turned and pulled the bedclothes more tightly around Daisy-May’s sleeping form then lifted a baby monitor from the edge of the change table and walked out of the room, closing the door quietly behind him.

Walking through the dimly lit house, Dom went directly to the small office Billy had built against the side of the workroom. Pressing his hand against the door, Dom set his head against the wood and drew a deep breath. He could hear Billy’s footsteps on the other side of the door: short, decisive steps. Dom could hear the anger in his partner’s movements.

“Billy?”

“Go away, Dom!” he barked.

“No.” His long fingers closed around the door handle and twisted it slowly, only to find that the door was locked. “Billy? Let me in, Billy.”

“No. Just go to bed, Dom.”

Dom felt the door shudder under his skin as Billy pressed himself against the structure. “Billy, you’ve never locked a door against me before. What have I done?”

“Nothing.” Billy sighed, “It’s me, Honey. I can’t do this. I need to concentrate on Craig.”

“Please, Billy, let me help you.” Dom murmured, “You don’t have to do this alone; I’m here.”

“You can’t.” Billy grated harshly. “This is my fault, Honey, I need to fix it. I need to bring him home.”

“Then let me help, baby, please, you don’t have to be alone.”

“Just go to bed, Dom.” Billy’s voice sounded lost to Dom’s loving ears, as the door vibrated. Dom could almost see his Billy, knocking his forehead against the wood.

Hearing the plaintive cries of one of their babies, Dom sighed in frustration. “Promise me you’ll come to bed, Billy?”

“As soon as I know what’s going on.” Billy whispered.

“Promise me, Billy.” Dom replied sternly.

“As soon as I know something, Honey.” Billy agreed. “Please…” His words carried as a soft whisper through the oak separating them.

Dom leaned heavily against the door, his fingers brushing across the wood, desperate to give his reassuring touch to his lover. His forehead pressed against the door, Dom listened to Billy’s agitated movement inside the room before Lennox’s plaintive cries penetrated his consciousness.

Shaking his head, he cleared his thoughts and moved quickly to his son’s side. Lifting the grumbling baby into his arms, he quickly soothed the rainstorm that had clouded over Lennox, his stroking fingers and soothing words quieting the baby who’s only irritation was loneliness. Looking into the crib, he smiled as he looked into his daughter’s all-knowing eyes. Leaning down, he rubbed her belly affectionately.

“C’mon, sweetie.” Dom reached in and expertly lifted her so that she lay against his other shoulder. “Papa is busy.” He snuggled both babies into his neck as he moved closer to Daisy-May’s bed, checking she was still sleeping before quietly exiting the room. “So it looks like we can have a sleep over.” He whispered into their sweet talc-scented bodies. “Won’t that be fun?”

Crawling onto the large bed he shared with Billy, Dom nestled his offspring against the pillows, his body curled around them. His head lay on the pillows beside them, one long arm stretched across them, his fingers gently caressing them. His eyes drifted closed as he waited patiently for Billy’s return.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Running his fingers through already disheveled hair, Billy trudged through the darkened house towards the last rest he would get for a while. For the moment, he had done all he could do. Cate had told him all she knew of Craig and his best friend’s whereabouts and conditions. He had come up with a plan; now all he had to do was wait for David’s return, and worry.

Pausing briefly in his bedroom door, he leaned heavily against the doorjamb, bone weary and emotional. His breath left him in a heartfelt sigh. Dom, bless his wise, loving soul, knew what he would need. On their wide bed, he lay on his side, tousled blond hair falling messily over his tanned face. Their twins slept beside him: Lana snuggled into Dom’s chest, Lennox laying on his back beside her, Dom’s hand resting on him as he slept, both babies peaceful. Daisy-May, her thumb pressed between her cupid’s-bow lips, her knees curled up underneath her, slept pressed against Dom’s belly.

Tears welled in Billy’s eyes as he drank in the image before him. He wasn’t stupid. He’d spent the last few hours trying to find a way to get Craig home safely. He also knew himself well enough to know that if he couldn’t get his brothers home safe, he wouldn’t be coming home at all. Hungrily watching his family, Billy realized that this could be the last time he spent with them. His fingers itched to reach out and touch his lover’s warm skin, to lift his daughter into his arms and cuddle her, to let the love and adoration he felt from her tiny soul wash away his pain for the moments he held her.

Letting his eyes follow the length of his beautiful lover’s body, he was surprised when he saw Dom’s smoky blue eyes watching him from beneath heavy lids. Not even for Dom could he force himself to smile as if everything was normal. Nothing would be normal again; both of them knew that. Billy could see it in Dom’s eyes.

As Billy watched, Dom extended one hand to him. Unable to stop himself, Billy walked to the bedside. Sliding his fingers across Dom’s, he laced their hands together as he slid onto the bed. Sinking down onto his pillows, he relaxed against the mattress, his eyes fixed on Dom’s face. Billy reached out to caress the diapered bottoms of their babies, he opened his mouth to speak to Dom but no words sounded. He watched Dom for long silent moments.

“I’m leaving, Honey, I have to.”

“Ssh, It’s alright, Billy.” Dom whispered. “You don’t need to explain. Just be here with us while you can.”

  
[ Chapter 17](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4474.html)


	17. Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists <17/33>

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey look, we’re halfway there, Yay! Both of the remaining chapters for the week are posted in [](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/profile)[**ordaisy**](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/), save them for the right days or read now at your own peril. Regular posting schedule will return on Monday. Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/).

_  
**Western Lovers: Cowboys & Biologists (17/33)**   
_   
  
[   
](http://photobucket.com)

**Title:** Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists  <17/33>  
 **Author:**[](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/profile)[ **sassywitch**](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/)  
 **Beta** the patient and talented [](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/profile)[**charlieisagirl**](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/)  
 **Pairing:** OB/DW  
 **Rating:** NC-17 for the series, and for this chapter.  
 **Summary:** David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.  
 **Feedback:** Feedback is my writers crack, which is not to be confused at all with plumbers crack.  
 **Disclaimer:** Not at all true in reality. These men whilst adorable and perfectly happy to slash themselves, their actual relationship is something that they only know. This story is adapted from a series of books that I adored when I was younger written by Elizabeth Lowell.  
 **Word Count:** 4617  
 **Previous Story:** Can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1656893.html)  
 **Previous Ordaisy chapter:** As suggested by [](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/profile)[**mystery_ink**](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/) can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1650642.html)  
 **Previous Chapters:** [ Chapter 1](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/353.html)|[ Chapter 2](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/597.html) |[ Chapter 3](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/910.html)|[ Chapter 4](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1032.html)|[ Chapter 5](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1359.html)|[ Chapter 6](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1630.html)|[ Chapter 7](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2014.html)|[ Chapter 8](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2254.html)|[ Chapter 9](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2332.html)|[ Chapter 10](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2625.html)|[ Chapter 11](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3070.html)|[ Chapter 12](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3269.html)|[ Chapter 13](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3428.html)|[ Chapter 14](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3585.html)|[ Chapter 15](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3915.html)|[ Chapter 16](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4160.html)

  
 **Posted to:** [](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/profile)[**fellowshippers**](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/) , [](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/profile)[**monaboyd**](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/) and [](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/profile)[**ordaisy**](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/)  
 **Header Art:** Courtesy of the incredibly talented [](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/profile)[**loki_girl**](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/).  
 **Author’s Notes:** Hey look, we’re halfway there, Yay! Both of the remaining chapters for the week are posted in [](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/profile)[**ordaisy**](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/) , save them for the right days or read now at your own peril. Regular posting schedule will return on Monday. Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/).

~*~*~*~*~*

Pressed between the twisted trunk of an ancient tree and David’s warm, muscular body, Orlando moaned as the rough bark scraped against his thick shearling jacket. Long, work-roughened fingers tangled in his silky brown curls as David’s mouth plundered his. The tickling of David’s beard against his clean-shaven face brought a smile to Orlando’s lips.

“What’s so funny?” David murmured, his beard tickling against Orlando’s kiss-swollen lips as he spoke.

Orlando lifted one hand to stroke David’s sleek beard, his eyes luminous as he gazed into David’s face, unable to hide for a moment his affections or his intentions. “There’s a perfectly good cabin just over there.” Orlando gestured toward the building that was slowly sinking into twilight shadows. “We could be naked.” Lifting one jean-clad leg to wrap around David’s hip, Orlando pulled more closely against him and tilted his head to nuzzle his nose against David’s neck.

“Keep that up and we’ll never get into the cabin. We should get you out of the cold.” His fingers turned Orlando’s face back to his, his breathy words tickling Orlando’s lips.

“Outdoors?” Orlando replied cheekily, one eyebrow quirking. “One of your kinks is it?”

“Just one,” David murmured. “It’s your mission to discover them all.” He strung wet kisses across Orlando’s cheek as he spoke.

“Don’t you dare stop that,” Orlando sighed, his fingers tangling in David’s hair, pulling their lips back together.

“Stop what?” David whispered, his lips never really leaving Orlando’s as he spoke.

“Driving me crazy.” Orlando moaned into David’s mouth.

“Just repaying the favor.” David’s tongue flicked out to taste Orlando’s breath as he spoke.

Sliding his hands down David’s sides, Orlando let his palms rest on the thick leather belt that circled David’s waist. Agile fingers pushed under the bottom of the homemade sweater David wore and, finding only flannelette shirt under his fingertips, Orlando growled his displeasure against David’s lips.

“What’s wrong?” David asked, one hand caressing Orlando’s face, searching his heavy-lidded chocolate eyes.

“Too many bloody clothes.”

David’s hand trembled as his thumb rubbed gently over Orlando’s bottom lip, Orlando’s tongue flicking out to lick David’s thumb. “We should stop. Get you inside in the warm before I forget it’s snowing.”

“No!” Orlando exclaimed, his breath leaving him in a heated exhalation of unadulterated need. “Please?”

“How could I say no to such a request?” David whispered, tilting his head, his lips sliding across Orlando’s wetly, his tongue tracing Orlando’s full bottom lip.

“If you do,” Orlando growled, “I’ll have to take matters into my own hand.”

“That’s something I want to watch,” David breathed, the image painted by Orlando’s words inflaming David’s passion. Sliding his hand between their slowly undulating bodies, David cupped Orlando’s denim-clad arousal, rubbing lightly.

“Anytime you want.” Nudging the collar of David’s jacket aside with his nose, his teeth nipped at the soft skin of David’s neck. “Any. Thing. You. Want.”

“Do you have any idea how much trouble that mouth will get you into?” David moaned wantonly, tilting his head, opening his neck to the frigid winter air, slowly falling snowflakes and Orlando’s incendiary licking, sucking mouth.

“I think I might,” Orlando whimpered, his hips pushing away from the tree and into David’s touch.

Whatever David had been about to say was forgotten as a shrill beeping sounded from his jacket pocket.

“Fuck!” Pressing his forehead to Orlando’s, David drew in deep, ragged breaths as one trembling hand searched his pocket for the offending object.

“’Tis what I was hoping for,” Orlando mumbled softly. His long arms wrapped around David’s waist pulling him loosely toward him as David answered the phone, lips tracing the skin on David’s neck.

“What?” David growled into the handset. His free hand moved to stroke Orlando’s face gently as he spoke.

“I need you to come home.” Billy stated without preamble.

“What’s wrong?” David questioned him, nerves winding tight at his brother’s tone. It had been a long time since David had heard the hard, military edges in Billy’s voice. He had hoped Dom had softened those edges forever, but something had drawn out the kill-or-be-killed warrior in his brother. Over the last two years David had almost forgotten the granite edges his brother had lived behind for so long. Hearing Billy’s cold voice, he was almost positive he was going to be gutted by Billy’s response.

“Craig is missing, presumed KIA,” Billy replied quickly. Candy-coating it wouldn’t help. Either of them.

“Details?” His words were clipped and he couldn’t force any others from his panic-constricted throat. Craig wasn’t dead. He couldn’t be. The five words Billy growled told him more than he really wanted to know. His baby brother was in danger, or worse, and his big brother was hurting. Trying to focus his thoughts and listen to what Billy wasn’t saying, David pulled out of Orlando’s loose embrace, already mentally preparing to take his place beside his brother and bring their sibling home, and stalked across the small clearing angrily.

“Unclear. Cate’s boys are still trying to work out what the hell happened. He and his team were taken by whatever bajin they were tracking. It was a six man team. They’ve found four.”

“And?” David growled.

“All dead. I’ve told Cate we’re coming. I can’t sit on my hands here when I could be there helping him.”

“I’ll be home before sunrise.”

“I’ll be waiting,” Billy answered, his voice filled with his fury. There was no way he wasn’t going to help to bring his brother home, no matter how they found him.

“He’s alive, Pip. We’d know. It’ll be alright.” David disconnected the call.

Standing facing the darkness, snowflakes fell gently, collecting on David’s hair and merging with the frustrated tears on his lashes. Hands, clenched in tight fists on his hips, his anger running rampant through his body, until his fear settled in his chest, making it nearly impossible to draw a full deep breath.

Orlando, deeply aroused before the phone shrilled, had remained where David had released him. Leaning against the tree, he let his head fall back. The rough bark caught in his hair as he breathed deeply, struggling to regain his composure. His brow furrowed as he heard the sharp edge to David’s words.

Waiting, giving him all the privacy he could, Orlando moved closer to his lover as soon as the call concluded. He watched briefly, seeing David’s fury seething through him, desperately seeking violent release. Walking slowly forward, wary but not afraid, Orlando pressed a gentle hand to David’s back.

“David? What’s happened?” His flat palm smoothed gentle, soothing circles across David’s back, giving whatever comfort he could give that would be accepted.

“I need to get back to the Double L.” David forced the words past tightly clenched teeth.

“Can I help?” Orlando asked gently. He could feel the tension in every taut muscle of David’s body. He didn’t need to know what was hurting David; it was enough for him to know that something was and for David to understand that he wasn’t alone anymore. Whatever it was, they could get through it together.

Wrapping his long arms around David’s waist Orlando pressed his face against David’s shoulder and did the only thing he could. He had no idea what had caused the blind fury David was struggling to divert, but he did know one thing: he would stand behind David and help him any way he could.

Long minutes passed with Orlando silently holding David, one gentle hand stroking his cloth-covered belly. As the snow fell more heavily around them, the soft white flakes clinging to their hair and clothes, neither man moved. David slowly began to relax against Orlando. His arms rested over Orlando’s as they looped around his waist. Releasing the breath he hadn’t been aware of holding, Orlando nuzzled his face against David’s shoulder. Pressing a silent kiss against his jacket, he silently offered his strength.

“Are you okay?” Orlando asked softly.

“No...” David ground out. “My baby brother is missing.”

“The soldier?”

“Craig.” David nodded; his voice softened as he spoke. “He’s missing, most of his team is dead.”

“But they haven’t found him?” Orlando asked, tightening his hold on his lover.

“Not yet.” David replied, his fingers trembling as they stroked Orlando’s comforting arms.

“You’ll find him, he won’t leave the two of you without a fight.” Orlando stated quietly. “What can I do?”

“Nothing. I have to pack up and get back to the Double L. Pip and I are going after him.” David tilted his head back, willing tears he refused to shed away.

“I’ll help you pack; you’ll be back quicker.”

“I’m sorry.” David turned in his embrace, one trembling hand cupping Orlando’s face. “I meant for us to have a few more days.”

“Can’t be helped.” Orlando assured him with a grim smile and a nod, his own hand covering David’s on his face.

“Go inside.” David whispered against Orlando’s lips, pressing a chaste kiss there. “I’ll be there in a minute. I need to prep the truck.”

Orlando looked up into David’s face, watching the pain of his emotions flicker through eyes suddenly icy in their intensity. Lifting his hand, Orlando traced David’s cheekbone, his thumb running along David’s damp lashes, brushing away the semi-melted snowflakes that clung there.

“Are you okay?” Orlando asked softly, dark eyes watching his lover closely.

“I’ll be fine.” David nodded, his icy gaze holding Orlando’s for a fraction of a second before he pulled out of his arms and walked towards the truck. “Go inside, Orli; it’s too cold out here.”

Orlando stood watching David as he readied the vehicle for travel before walking into the cabin. Collecting odd items of David’s from around the room, Orlando stoked the fire into life and quickly and efficiently put a small pot of beef stew and a pot of water over the flames. Collecting some of David’s belongings, he placed them on top of his pack before he quickly pushed some of his own clothes and toiletries into a small backpack and dropped it beside the door.

By the time David stepped back into the cabin, all of his belongings were stacked neatly on top of his pack and a bowl of steaming stew sat on his chair waiting for him.

Looking questioningly into Orlando’s face, he opened his mouth to speak, only to be interrupted.

“I thought it best that we had something to eat before the drive. You’re not going to think about eating before you leave.” Orlando explains.

“We?” David asked softly as he quickly and efficiently stowed his belongings in his pack.

“You’re not driving back. I am.” Orlando stated.

“You are, are you?” David questioned without looking up.

“You won’t do Craig any good crashing the truck; you’re distracted and worried. Quite understandably. But this way I know that you’ve gotten back safely and you get back in one piece.”

“You don’t have to do that. You’ve got work to do.” David murmured. Lifting his bowl of stew he ate quickly, more intent on getting the tasty, hot food inside him than finesse.

“I know, but I want to. The cats will wait. You’re more important.” Orlando replied, taking the now empty bowl from David’s extended hand. Rinsing it quickly in the warm, soapy water he had waiting, he moved across the room to extinguish the fire.

Lifting a thermos of coffee from where he had left it beside the fireplace, he watched David scanning the room, ensuring he had collected his belongings. Orlando couldn’t help the sudden impression that David was removing himself completely from the cabin, almost as if he anticipated not returning.

“Ready?” Orlando asked softly.

David didn’t speak, merely nodded as he slung his pack over his shoulder.

“I made some coffee for the trip.” Orlando passed him the thermos as he passed by him to lift his own pack and walk quickly out the door.

Glancing from the thermos in his hand to the door closing behind Orlando, David almost smiled before he turned and followed the younger man outside. Orlando’s pack was already hung neatly in the back of the truck, the man himself closing the tailgate after coaxing Baby into the back. Dropping his own pack into the truck, David leaned on the side of it, watching Orlando as he opened the door.

Climbing into the passenger side, David slid across the seat and as Orlando climbed in, he kissed him softly.

“Thank you.” He murmured against Orlando’s lips.

“You’re welcome.” Orlando leaned into David’s touch, his chilled fingers trailing down the side of David’s face, kissing him tenderly.

“Ready?” David breathed against Orlando’s skin.

Nodding, Orlando released his hold on David and turned his attention to the trip ahead of them. The light snowfall and all-pervasive darkness of the mountain nights made the trip challenging at the best of times, even with the truck’s powerful lights. However, distracted by his concern for David, the trip was enough to be nail biting for Orlando. Whenever he could spare a moment’s attention from the winding dirt roads, Orlando would glance at his lover. David’s profile was dimly lit by the green glow of the dash lights, his brow furrowed, his lips pressed tight together as he contemplated his brothers situation.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Billy sat at his office desk, a tablet of paper in front of him, a fountain pen lying across it as he held a framed photo of his family in his hands.

Two years ago he could never have imagined what he had now. Two years ago he had a home but he could fit his possessions in a single pack and leave without looking back. Before Dom, he would never have hesitated to pack that bag and do whatever was bidden of him.

Now here he sat, his thumb brushing over Dom’s smile, his eyes misting over as he looked into the faces in the photo. It had been taken the day they had brought Lana and Lennox home and completed their family. Billy and Dom had both been seated on the sofa, Daisy-May squeezed in between them, Lana held in Dom’s arms and Lennox in Billy’s. Miranda had admonished them not to move and had taken several photos of them. This particular one had been Billy’s favorite: Dom was practically glowing with his love for the tiny girl in his arms.

Placing the frame back onto the desktop, he glanced around his office and laughed wryly. His life could be split in two, Before Dom and After Dom. Since Dom had entered his life, everything was filled with pictures and drawings, memories that they made together and were loathe to release, hence the picture frames that now graced every surface.

Leaning over the desk, Billy lifted the pen and began to write. The first letter, addressed to Dom, was short but informative. It detailed the precautions Billy had taken to secure his family’s future should anything happen to him. Folding the letter and sliding it into a long white envelope he pushed it to the side of his desk.

The letter he had yet to write was lone he never wanted Dom to read, but the one he knew he had to leave.

 _My precious Honey.  
If you are reading this you know the worst has happened. I want you to know that I have done everything physically in my power to return to you and our babies._

 _I hope you know just how deeply I love you and how much you’ve changed my life. I realize now that before you climbed out of your car that very first day I never really had anything. You were the beginning of my life and the love of my soul. You have made me a better man because your love has made me whole._

 _I have cherished every minute we have spent together and I know that if you do read this, you will raise our children to be the very best they can be and love them enough for both of us._

 _I need you to understand that I had to go and find Craig, my love, he’s my baby brother and keeping him safe and bringing him home is something I had to do. For the first time in my life I’ve had to choose between what I want and what I need to do. It was the most gut-wrenching decision I’ve ever had to make. I almost asked David to go on his own, but if something happened to either of them I would never have forgiven myself. Leaving you was the last thing I wanted to do, but I had to go._

 _I need you to have a long and happy life, my love. Please be happy and live your life for the both of us. Don’t let our babies forget me. Wherever it is I am now, Honey, I’ll wait here forever for you. I love you. Now, forever, always.  
Your Billy _

“When are we leaving?” David said gruffly as he stepped into the office.

Startled by his brother’s sudden appearance, Billy surreptitiously wiped away the tears gathered on his lashes. “Didn’t take you long.” He stated.

“Orlando drove. If it’s okay, I want to ask him to stay here while I’m gone.”

“Sure.” Billy nodded distractedly as he pushed his letter into the envelope.

“Any news?” David asked quietly, walking in to sit on the edge of the desk.

“Not a word,” Billy responded, propping the now sealed envelope against the edge of the phone. “Cate has sent her plane. It’ll be waiting for us when we get to the airport.”

“I can go on my own, Pip,” David murmured, noting the obvious goodbye letter Billy was leaving for Dom. “You’ve got too much to lose, nobody would think any less of you.”

“I would,” Billy answered quickly. “He’s coming home, Daisy. I’m not leaving him there.”

“I didn’t say you would, Pip, but you’ve got your own family now. You should stay with them.”

“Dom understands.” Billy nodded, checking his watch. “We’ve got about thirty minutes. You should go say goodbye to your biologist.”

“He’s not _my_ biologist.” David stated.

“You should maybe see the way you look at him.” Billy almost smiled, “Of course he is.”

“Fuck off, Billy,” David grunted, as he stood and moved towards the door. “Orli is his own man, not mine.”

“We’ll see,” Billy replied, his mind already turning back to their upcoming journey, sliding open the desk drawer and extracting his passport.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

  
“I don’t like this, Billy,” Dom murmured. He had been sitting on the dresser, watching as Billy had filled the pack he was taking with him. Billy lifted the bag from the bed, and placed it on the floor beside their bedroom door.

“You think I do?” Billy growled as he turned back towards Dom with tears in his eyes. “My baby brother is missing, maybe he’s already dead. I can’t stay here not knowing that I might be able to do something to help him.”

“I know that.” Dom nodded, opening his arms to his partner. “I can see how much it tears you up just thinking about it, but I’m greedy too. I don’t want to lose you, Bills.” He pulled Billy into his tight embrace.

“Honey,” Billy groaned as he nuzzled his face into Dom’s chest. “You won’t lose me. I’d never leave you.” He kissed Dom’s lips softly. “I have to do this. Craig has always been my responsibility. I know he’s my brother, but for as long as I can remember I’ve felt like his father. I can’t leave him alone there not knowing if he’s hurt or worse.” He pressed gentle kisses against Dom’s lips. “I must do this, Honey. But I’m not the man I used to be. I have a home and I have you, and Sugarplum and Lana and Lennox. I have my family. Nothing will ever stop me from coming back to you, but I have to go and at least try to make my family whole again.”

Dom nodded, pressing his lips to Billy’s gently and kissing him tenderly, both hands lifting to cup Billy’s face. “You be careful.”

“Look after the kids for me?” Billy whispered, pulling Dom into a tight embrace.

“Like there was any doubt.” Dom’s laugh came out as a tight sob.

“Don’t, Honey.” Billy murmured into his hair. “Don’t make this harder than it is.”

“I’m trying.” Dom answered, drawing a deep shuddering breath as Billy released him.

Leading Dom by the hand, Billy led him into the nursery. Standing in the doorway, he wrapped his arms around Dom’s waist and just watched their sleeping children. Kissing the side of Dom’s neck, he slipped past Dom into the room, walking to Daisy-May’s tiny princess bed. Kneeling beside the bed, Billy smoothed her tousled curls back from her face. Smiling, she mumbled in her sleep and snuggled into his touch. Leaning over Daisy-May’s tiny form, he pulled the sheet up from where she had kicked it off and pressed a kiss against her forehead.

Fingers lingering on his little girls face, Billy stood slowly. Moving to the cribs that stood, end to end, against the opposite wall of the room, he gently stroked the back of his fingers against his youngest daughter’s chubby cheek. Lana’s face was surrounded by silky strawberry blonde curls; her face pushed into the pink sheet beneath her, one tiny fist pressed into her rosebud mouth; her knees tucked up under her; her diaper-clad bottom pushed into the air as she slept soundly.

Moving to the matching crib, Billy smiled watching their son, Lennox’s sleepy grey eyes open, watching him inquisitively. Reaching into the crib, Billy lifted Lennox from his bed. Sliding him into the crook of his arm, his free hand caressed Lennox’s dark blond hair softly before he began patting his bottom gently and singing to the youngster. As Lennox’s eyes slid closed again, Billy placed him back in his crib.

Dom waited until Billy had released his hold on Lennox before he moved behind him. Content to give Billy the contact they both needed, Dom slid his arms around Billy’s waist and rested his chin on his shoulder. He had recognized Billy’s need to say his goodbyes to their children, and had watched, emotionally, from the doorway until Billy had bid each child farewell in turn. Dom knew his partner as well as he knew himself and, with every gentle touch and softly crooned word, had watched Billy’s nerves winding tighter.

“If something goes wrong, make sure they remember me?” Billy murmured softly, his eyes fixed on the twins.

“Nothing is going to happen,” Dom assured him. “They won’t have time to forget you; you’re going to bring their uncle home and they’ll have the best of both worlds.”

“I’m serious, Honey.” Billy tilted his head to press a soft kiss against Dom’s cheek.

“So am I.” Dom pulled away and extended a hand to Billy pulling him out of the nursery so they could talk without waking their children.

“C’mon, come out here and snuggle, for just a little while.” Dom coaxed him, trying to take his mind off his departure.

“I’m going to miss you.” Billy whispered against Dom’s lips.

Dom nodded his head, his fingers playing with Billy’s hair. “This will be the first time we’ve really been apart since I came back here.”

Cupping Dom’s face, Billy watched his eyes as he spoke seriously to him. “I’m deadly serious, Honey. I’ve left an envelope in my office for you. Instructions, just in case I don’t come back.”

“You’re coming back.” Dom stated, a note of certainty in his voice. “I won’t accept anything else.”

~*~*~*~*~~*

Orlando sat on the tailgate of the truck, one leg swinging idly, the other drawn up to his chest. His long arms wrapped around his up-drawn leg, willing his body to share its warmth with his limbs. The predawn chill was seeping into his bones, his inactivity not helping at all, but he was loathe to move as he watched Baby and David, both firmly gripping ends of a length of frayed rope.

The trip back from Fangorn Canyon had been long. Orlando had struggled to ease the strained silence with snippets of conversation. His words had been met by one word answers, or simply a grunt of acknowledgement that could barely be considered a reply. Chancing glances at David whenever he could spare a little attention from the road, Orlando could see the tension building in his lover. Wishing he was able to spare a hand from the steering wheel to offer David a simple touch, he had sighed deeply and resumed his struggle with the truck and the difficult terrain.

As soon as he had stopped the truck in front of Billy and Dom’s home, David had climbed out and stalked up the path to the bunkhouse. Orlando had climbed out the truck and released Baby from the back to wait for his return. David had returned, a large pack slung over his shoulder. Wordlessly dropping the pack to the ground at the side of the truck, David gently ran his fingers through Orlando’s hair, his eyes searching Orlando’s face before walking into the house.

When David had emerged from the house, he had smiled grimly at Orlando and pressed a hard kiss against his lips before taking the frayed rope from his fingers and moving to play roughly with Baby.

Orlando’s chin resting on his knee, he watched in the growing light as his wolf and his lover wrestled on the dewy, damp grass. Almost as if feeling Orlando’s eyes on him, David looked up, his shoulders pinned by the huge wolf. Running his fingers through the wolf’s ruff, David spoke softly to the large animal before he pushed it off his chest and stood. Walking back to Orlando’s side, David stopped in front of him and extended a hand to touch his disheveled hair.

“Will you still be here when I get back?” David asked quietly.

“I couldn’t leave without knowing you’re safe,” Orlando answered. Reaching out, he picked grass fragments from David’s clothes.

“My room in the bunkhouse is yours if you want it.” David leaned in to press a kiss to Orlando’s lips as he spoke. “I wouldn’t worry as much if I knew you were here and safe.”

“David,” Orlando murmured softly, as he pulled David into his loose embrace, “I’ve been working alone for a long time now.”

“Humor me?” David smiled apologetically.

“It’s just lucky for you I’ve already told Dom I’ll stay here and help him with the kids.” Orlando smiled, pulling David back to his mouth, deepening their kiss.

David fluffed Orlando’s curls with his fingers, his large hand pulling Orlando’s face back to his, lips sliding wetly across Orlando’s, kissing him hungrily.

Hearing the door closing behind him, David pushed himself deeper into Orlando’s embrace, slowly grinding their hips together as his free hand slid down Orlando’s back. Pulling back slowly, David breathing heavily, he held Orlando against him. “I’m sorry, Fairytale Boy.”

“Nothing to be sorry about.” Orlando murmured, trailing his hand across David’s beard. “Stay safe.”

“David,” Billy called gently, “We need to go.”

“I know,” David replied, without looking around. “I’m coming.”

“I’ll be here when you get back, David.” Orlando murmured, releasing his loose hold on David. “I love you.”

David watched him closely, looking into his eyes as he spoke. Nodding tightly David turned; lifting his pack off the ground, he threw it into the back of the vehicle that waited for them. Billy and David climbed into the truck, neither looking back as it drove off into the morning.

[ Chapter 18](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4844.html)


	18. Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists <18/33>

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/).

_  
**Western Lovers: Cowboys & Biologists (18/33)**   
_   
  
[   
](http://photobucket.com)

**Title:** Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists  <18/33>  
 **Author:**[](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/profile)[ **sassywitch**](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/)  
 **Beta** the patient and talented [](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/profile)[**charlieisagirl**](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/)  
 **Pairing:** OB/DW  
 **Rating:** NC-17 for the series, and for this chapter.  
 **Summary:** David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.  
 **Feedback:** Feedback is my writers crack, which is not to be confused at all with plumbers crack.  
 **Disclaimer:** Not at all true in reality. These men whilst adorable and perfectly happy to slash themselves, their actual relationship is something that they only know. This story is adapted from a series of books that I adored when I was younger written by Elizabeth Lowell.  
 **Word Count:** 2642  
 **Previous Story:** Can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1656893.html)  
 **Previous Ordaisy chapter:** As suggested by [](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/profile)[**mystery_ink**](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/) can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1650642.html)  
 **Previous Chapters:** [ Chapter 1](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/353.html)|[ Chapter 2](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/597.html) |[ Chapter 3](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/910.html)|[ Chapter 4](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1032.html)|[ Chapter 5](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1359.html)|[ Chapter 6](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1630.html)|[ Chapter 7](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2014.html)|[ Chapter 8](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2254.html)|[ Chapter 9](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2332.html)|[ Chapter 10](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2625.html)|[ Chapter 11](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3070.html)|[ Chapter 12](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3269.html)|[ Chapter 13](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3428.html)|[ Chapter 14](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3585.html)|[ Chapter 15](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3915.html)|[ Chapter 16](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4160.html)|[ Chapter 17](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4474.html)

 **Posted to:** [](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/profile)[**fellowshippers**](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/) , [](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/profile)[**monaboyd**](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/) and [](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/profile)[**ordaisy**](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/)  
 **Header Art:** Courtesy of the incredibly talented [](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/profile)[**loki_girl**](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/).  
 **Author’s Notes:** Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/).

~*~*~*~*~*

Orlando nuzzled his head against the baby that lay cradled in his arms. The sweet, talc-scented bundle watched him: wide blue-gray eyes followed his movements as if he understood everything he saw. Orlando lifted one hand to trail a gentle finger across the baby’s cheek, smiling broadly as a tiny hand lifted to clumsily try and capture Orlando’s finger.

“You’re very good with babies,” Dom spoke as he walked out into the yard, Lana balanced in one arm, two bottles clasped in his hand. His other hand firmly clasping Daisy-May’s as she tottered along awkwardly beside him, his gait slowed to accommodate her tiny shuffling steps. Sinking gracefully onto the blanket Orlando sat on, he moved Lana to a comfortable position in his embrace, before he handed a bottle to Orlando and ruffled Daisy-May’s hair as he helped her into the play gym.

“I had a little sister,” Orlando murmured flatly, his memories drawn instantly back to thoughts of his sister.

“Had?” Dom asked quietly, smiling at Lana as her tiny rosebud lips fastened onto the nipple of the bottle and suckled hungrily.

“She died. Pneumonia.” Orlando’s pinky finger rubbed against Lennox’s cheek as he drank from the bottle Orlando held.

“I’m sorry.” Reaching out with his free hand, Dom ruffled Daisy-May’s hair as she played beside him.

“Was a long time ago.” Orlando shrugged, blinking away the reminiscent tears before he looked up into Dom’s face. “You love this, don’t you?” he smiled at Dom.

“The kids? Adore them. The ranch? It’s my perfect home.” It was Dom’s turn to shrug. “For such a long time I was barely even existing. Then I came here and I realized this was exactly where I belong.”

“It’s beautiful here.”

“But it’s more than just here. I could be living in a tent in the mountains and still be as happy. When you find the one you’re meant to be with, it all just falls into place. You’ll love living here.” Dom nodded, pulling the bottle from Lana’s mouth and lifted her against his shoulder.

“I’m only here until I’ve finished working with the cougars.” Orlando shook his head as he spoke.

“If he asked you to stay, would you?” Dom looked at him across Lana’s back.

“He’ll never ask me so there’s no need to wonder about it.” Orlando murmured, turning his attention back to Lennox. “Where did you come up with the kids’ names?”

Dom looked at his eldest daughter, turning his face so Orlando couldn’t see the small grin that crossed his face at Orlando’s sudden subject change.

“Lana and Lennox were easy.” Dom explained. “Billy is originally Scottish, we wanted to be able to give them both a little piece of their heritage they could always keep; both names are Celtic in origin. We knew that we were having twins, a boy and a girl. Lana means calm and precious, it fitted her. When Randy had her check ups, Lana was always the serene, quiet one. Lennox has a few meanings, but one of them is protector. Likewise during checkups he was always moving, always in front of her, almost like he was trying to protect her. It stuck. They both got L names in a way to remind them of their home and the place that brought their daddies together. The Double L.”

“You put a lot of thought into that, didn’t you?” Orlando questioned, putting Lennox’s empty bottle on the ground beside him as he snuggled the contented baby deeper into his arms.

“They’ll have their names their whole life; we wanted to give them meaning.” Dom’s thumb caressed Lana’s cheek as he spoke, his voice soft as he watched her eyelids flutter closed.

“And Daisy-May? She’s not from the same mother is she?” Orlando asked watching as Daisy-May climbed off her play gym and toddled closer to Dom, climbing clumsily across his lap and cuddling into his body.

“David hasn’t told you about her?” Dom asked quietly.

“Why should he?” Orlando questioned.

“We adopted her from him.” Dom shrugged, his fingers stroked Daisy-May’s long glossy hair as she cuddled against his belly.

“She’s his daughter? Seriously? He’d give up his child? Even to his brother?”

“She’s not really his. He used to be a soldier. You knew that right?” Dom waited for Orlando’s nod before he continued. “It hurt him. Badly. On his last tour she was the sole survivor of a village annihilated by whoever it is they fight. He claimed her as his, brought her home so she could have a life. When Billy met her it was love at first sight for both of them.” Dom smiled as he remembered their devotion to each other that stood even to this day. “We named her for David, and because he’s Daisy here more than he is David we needed to add something. We decided on adding the month that David found her in. Daisy-May she became.”

“That’s beautiful.” Orlando whispered.

“He’s not the hard-ass he’d have you believe.” Dom stated.

“I know that already,” Orlando murmured. “He’s the gentlest man I’ve ever met.”

“You’re serious, aren’t you?” Dom watched Orlando’s face soften, his eyes fluttering closed as he replayed treasured memories.

Orlando didn’t answer, just nodded, his concentration stolen by memories of David’s gentle touches.

“I’ve got an idea. We’ll have a boys’ night tonight. We don’t know how long they’ll be gone, hopefully just a day or two. You and me, we’ll put the kids to bed, open some wine, eat some pizza and we’ll talk about our men. How does that sound?” Dom suggested, curious to learn more about the gentle side of his best friend. “But first I think we should put my angels to bed, don’t you?”

Orlando rose gracefully to his feet, his precious cargo cradled warmly against his chest. “I’ll just put him in his crib?”

“Thanks, Orlando. If you can do that and come back and take Lana for me, we might be able to get them all in bed still sleeping.”

Orlando nodded and walked into the house. Returning a few moments later, he squatted at Dom’s side and lifted Lana from his arms carefully. Pushing the empty baby bottles into the large pockets of the army-style jacket he was wearing, he stood and soothed Lana’s soft murmurs expertly.

Lifting Daisy-May into his arms carefully Dom stood slowly, closing his arms tightly around her as she stirred, pressing her tiny face into his chest. “PapaBilly?” she whimpered softly, her eyes fluttering as she snuggled into Dom’s chest.

“Not yet Sugarplum, Papabilly won’t be home today. But DomDaddy’s here.” He crooned to her gently. Smiling in satisfaction as she cuddled into his chest and settled back into his embrace, Dom stroked her hair as she relaxed before following Orlando into the house.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Five hours later, the children all sleeping and tucked into bed, Dom and Orlando sat on the back porch. A home-cooked pizza and two glasses of wine on the small table between them, they sat eating in companionable silence.

“Do you have any other brothers or sisters?” Dom asked quietly. Holding his glass of wine by the stem, he sipped from the pale red liquid slowly.

“One sister, Aurora, she’s almost sixteen and at school, one brother, Mark, he’s older, works on oil rigs.” Orlando answered as he dropped a piece of pizza crust back onto his plate and reached for his wine glass. He’d taken the time while Dom was putting the kids to bed to change into soft track pants and a multi-coloured knitted sweater, his feet bare.

“Dangerous work,” Dom stated, taking another swig of his wine.

“It is but Mark is careful, he knows what he’s doing. His wife died last year; he has a nine month old daughter to raise.”

“If you are from Alaska, why the accent?” Dom frowned as he leaned over and refilled both glasses from the bottle of wine that sat on the table.

“Our parents were British. They were new age hippies that settled in the wilderness. They did well, we were fully self-sustained--both of them were teachers--so none of us had anything but limited contact with anyone other than family until I was in my teens. We all just picked up Mom and Dad’s accents I guess.”

“They must have had a death wish or been sure of themselves. Alaska is pretty remote even today.”

“We survived. Entertainment was board games and Dad’s old 8-tracks, but we didn’t know any better. Even knowing what I do now I wouldn’t have wanted anything different.” Orlando smiled, drinking deeply from his glass.

“No wonder why you and David get on so well,” Dom grinned. “He’s the strong, silent, outdoors type.”

“Do you know what made him so sad?”

“I think you should really ask him that,” Dom replied quickly, hating himself for not responding openly, “I’m not sure it’s my place to tell you the little bits that I do know.”

“I think he’s frightened to sleep near me,” Orlando murmured. “When…he never stays the night.”

“He’s frightened he’s going to hurt you.”

“He wouldn’t hurt me.”

“Not deliberately, but he was a soldier for a long, long time, Orli. He’s been conditioned to kill or be killed and then ask, it’s the only way he could stay alive. It’s going to take time for him to relax.”

“Oh, I know that already, he almost choked me one morning. He was having a nightmare and I touched him. Before I knew it I was on my back with his hands around my throat strangling me.”

“He didn’t mean it.” Dom said, his eyes wide.

“Of course he didn’t, I know that.” Orlando sat forward in his seat, his elbows on his knees as he spoke. “Afterwards he was so gentle it almost made me cry. He’s so kind and tender and loving when he doesn’t realize what he’s doing.”

“I’ve never seen that side of him with anyone other than the kids,” Dom mused, moving to sit on the floor in front of Orli. Leaning against the railings behind him, Dom extended his glass to Orlando to have it refilled. “With the kids, he’s like a completely different person. He even looses that damned haunted look in his eyes. I had never seen that with adults until you came. I knew that day in Helm’s Deep that you were special and you were here for him.”

“If I’m so special, why the hell is he resisting me so much? I’ve told him I don’t want anything from him but what he wants to give.”

“That’s the problem. He has no idea what he wants, or what he has to give you. He’s frightened to acknowledge that he can love, let alone even consider allowing himself to fall in love with you.”

“He’s already given me more than I could ever expect.”

“Can I ask a personal question?” Dom narrowed his gaze as he sipped from his wine glass.

“Sure.”

“Have you two…you know?” Dom started to ask.

Orlando blushed furiously and nodded quickly, his curls bobbing around his face as he looked down at his hands, before gulping the remains of his wine glass.

Dom watched Orlando, the grin on his face widening as he watched his reaction and reached his own conclusions.

“You were a virgin, weren’t you?”

Orlando’s head bobbed up and down again as he nodded his affirmation of Dom’s question. “David was gentle and careful and made it beautiful.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less from Daisy,” Dom replied, his voice suddenly sad and wistful.

Orlando looked into Dom’s face, his voice softening as he questioned. “Your first time wasn’t, was it?”

Dom shook his head slowly.

“Billy adores you…”

“It wasn’t Billy,” Dom stated quietly. “I was raped.”

“I’m sorry, forgive me, I shouldn’t have probed like that.”

“No, it’s fine, it was a long time ago.” He paused searching for the words to explain his first relationship to Orlando. “Not all boyfriends are gentle and tender, Orli.”

“But they’re not all bastards either, right?” Orli smiled.

“Then surely you can tell that he does love you.” Dom murmured.

“No, he doesn’t.” Orlando shook his head, his tousled curls bouncing wildly.

“Yes. Yes, he does.” Dom stated firmly. “He might not be able to say it, but he’s told you in the only way he can at the moment.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me. How did you come to that conclusion?” Orlando queried, leaning forward to drain the last of the wine from the bottle into Dom’s glass, and then his own.

“I know these men, both Billy and David, better than I know myself sometimes. Their pasts have made them the men they are. I love Billy desperately and wouldn’t change a thing about him, and Daisy is the best friend I never had, he’s a beautiful person, inside and out. He needs someone to get inside, someone to love him the way I love Billy. He needs you, Orli. No one else. You. It’s you he reached out for. He would never have touched you if he knew he would leave you hurt. Don't give up on him."

Orlando shrugged with indecision. “You can’t know that.”

Dom rolled gracefully to his feet, “I do.” he replied. Leaving his wine glass on the railing, he entered the house and returned a few moments later with a new bottle and a corkscrew. Perching on the railing in front of Orlando, he effortlessly uncorked the bottle of wine and gestured for Orlando to present his glass. “Hope you don’t mind white?” Dom chuckled. “We don’t entertain much, and Billy’s more of a whisky man. This…” He glanced at the label quickly. “Fine desert wine is all we have left in that department.”

“It’s fine.” Orlando nodded as he stood. Lifting Dom’s glass from the railing beside him, he held both out to him. Waiting only long enough for Dom to finish pouring the wine, he leaned against the railing beside his friend. “What makes you so sure?”

“That he loves you?” Dom raised a brow as he sipped from the glass.

“You can’t know that, he doesn’t even know it.”

“He does,” Dom replied, “but he won’t let himself believe it.” He sighed deeply. “I’m gonna have to tell you, aren’t I?”

“Knowledge would be infinitely better than that lame ‘ask him’ answer.” Orlando stated as he moved back to his chair and folded his knees up to his chin, watching Dom closely.

“I don’t know exactly what he saw while he was fighting, but he was angry and broken when he got home. He has amazing senses: he knows which baby is crying just by the resonance of the sound, he knows who is approaching him without looking. He had to be hard to survive and it’s all he remembers how to be.” Dom shrugged. “Their mother was a bit of a handful apparently; all three of them have different fathers. It’s shaped them all different ways. Billy took on being their father--he’s been the man of the house since he was about five, I think--David idolizes Billy, I think Craig does too. Billy had a bad relationship that pushed him into the military and the boys followed him. Long story short, the three of them have a crappy opinion of love. Billy didn’t think he could, David thinks that love is only there to hurt and as far as I can tell Craig is struggling to find someone to love him for him. You have to show him it’s not about pain, Orli.”

“That’s easier said than done,” Orlando sighed, taking a long drink from his glass.

“Not for you. He chose you, Orli. You just have to prove to him he made the right choice.”

[ Chapter 19](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4918.html)   



	19. Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists <19/33>

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/). Because you guys have put up with so much from me this week, I thought y'all might like a bonus chapter. And if I'm a little late in posting on Monday you might forgive me?

_  
**Western Lovers: Cowboys & Biologists (19/33)**   
_   
  
[   
](http://photobucket.com)

**Title:** Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists  <19/33>  
 **Author:**[](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/profile)[ **sassywitch**](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/)  
 **Beta** the patient and talented [](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/profile)[**charlieisagirl**](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/)  
 **Pairing:** OB/DW  
 **Rating:** NC-17 for the series, and for this chapter.  
 **Summary:** David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.  
 **Feedback:** Feedback is my writers crack, which is not to be confused at all with plumbers crack.  
 **Disclaimer:** Not at all true in reality. These men whilst adorable and perfectly happy to slash themselves, their actual relationship is something that they only know. This story is adapted from a series of books that I adored when I was younger written by Elizabeth Lowell.  
 **Word Count:** 3615  
 **Previous Story:** Can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1656893.html)  
 **Previous Ordaisy chapter:** As suggested by [](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/profile)[**mystery_ink**](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/) can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1650642.html)  
 **Previous Chapters:** [ Chapter 1](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/353.html)|[ Chapter 2](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/597.html) |[ Chapter 3](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/910.html)|[ Chapter 4](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1032.html)|[ Chapter 5](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1359.html)|[ Chapter 6](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1630.html)|[ Chapter 7](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2014.html)|[ Chapter 8](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2254.html)|[ Chapter 9](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2332.html)|[ Chapter 10](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2625.html)|[ Chapter 11](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3070.html)|[ Chapter 12](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3269.html)|[ Chapter 13](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3428.html)|[ Chapter 14](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3585.html)|[ Chapter 15](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3915.html)|[ Chapter 16](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4160.html)|[ Chapter 17](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4474.html)|[ Chapter 18](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4844.html)

  
 **Posted to:** [](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/profile)[**fellowshippers**](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/) , [](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/profile)[**monaboyd**](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/) and [](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/profile)[**ordaisy**](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/)  
 **Header Art:** Courtesy of the incredibly talented [](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/profile)[**loki_girl**](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/).  
 **Author’s Notes:** Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/). Because you guys have put up with so much from me this week, I thought y'all might like a bonus chapter. And if I'm a little late in posting on Monday you might forgive me?

~*~*~*~*~*

Lennox snuggled comfortably into his shoulder; one long-fingered hand stroked his son’s back gently as Dom walked into the guest room.

“Orli?” Dom called softly, as he touched the sleeping man.

“Whassup?” Orlando drawled, dragging one hand over his bleary eyes as he struggled to wake up. “Need help?”

“No.” Dom answered quickly, “Daisy’s back.”

Orlando sat up; even half asleep he recognized something was wrong. Dom should be happy that their lovers had returned. David and Billy had been gone for a week and thus far there had been no contact from either of them. Both he and Dom had realized that the brothers had been going somewhere dangerous and each day without contact was winding them both just that little bit tighter. But to have them suddenly arrive home without so much as a word in that week seemed strange. Orlando’s eyes, filled with concern, were fixed on Dom. “And?”

“He seems okay.”

“What did Billy say?” Orlando asked, tilting his head in question, oddly disturbed by Dom’s demeanor and watching him closely.

“Daisy came home alone.”

“Did…Did they….” Orlando couldn’t bring himself to say the words that he was thinking.

“Did they find Craig? Yes. Is Billy okay? Yes.” Dom replied, struggling to calm down, sighing as Lennox began to stir, Dom’s agitation disturbing the baby. “That’s about all that he has said. He won’t fucking talk to me.” Dom tried not to complain. At least he knew his Billy was unharmed, for now that would have to be enough. Even that limited information was more than he knew an hour ago.

Seeing the impatient anxiety Dom was struggling to hide, Orlando flipped back his bedclothes and slid off the bed. Standing beside his newest friend, Orlando let his hand trail over Lennox’s silky hair, then clasped Dom’s shoulder in a gesture of support. “I’ll talk to him. Where is he?” Orlando asked, the fingers of his other hand scratching through his sleep-tousled curls.

As Orlando moved to the neatly folded clothes that sat on the edge of the dresser, Dom resettled Lennox on his other shoulder then he spoke. “Don’t push him, Orli. He’s very…raw.”

“He’s your best friend, your brother-in-law; he of all people knows how much you need to know what’s happened.”

“It’s enough to know that Billy’s safe, the rest can wait,” Dom murmured calmed by Orlando’s gentle touch. “I’m worried about David, too.”

“Is he hurt?” Orlando’s eyes were suddenly wide and fixed on Dom as he spoke, his anger replaced by the fear that had haunted his every thought for the last week.

“Not physically.” Dom answered, watching as Orlando slipped a thick sweater over his head.

“Where is he?” Orlando asked quietly, as he bent to slip his feet into thick sheepskin moccasins. He hadn’t missed the subtle concern in Dom’s voice. “It’ll be okay Dom, he’ll talk to me.”

“He’s out on the porch.”

“Thanks.” Orlando smiled nervously as he walked towards the door.

“I was serious Orli,” Dom urged, as he followed him from the room. “Something’s happened; I don’t know what but he’s different. I’d tread very, very carefully.”

Moving quickly through the house, he stood for long minutes at the kitchen door, just watching his lover. Taking a deep breath, he stepped through the doorway and walked along the porch towards David. Shrugging deeper into his sweater, he shivered in the chill, pre-dawn air, and sat, wordlessly, on the porch swing beside David.

For long moments silence enshrouded them. David stared into the horizon, nothing in his bearing indicating the knowledge that he was no longer alone.

“He didn’t need to wake you.” David’s voice was flat and emotionless.

“He woke me because he’s worried about you, and he knows how much I miss you.” One hand stretched out to close over David’s as it gripped the edge of the seat.

“You shouldn’t.” David growled, pulling away from Orlando’s touch.

“Miss you?” Orlando probed gently, “How could I not? I love you.”

“Don’t. Orlando.” David’s voice was little more than a moan. “I don’t want you to fucking love me, alright?!”

“Fine.” Orlando soothed, placating him as he would the wild beasts he worked with. “Think about someone else for a minute. Don’t think about us, or me even.” He paused. “You know how much Dom loves Billy. Don’t you think he deserves to know what happened?”

“Not for me to tell,” David breathed. “He’s still in one piece; the rest is for him to tell Dom.”

“One piece?” Orlando frowned as he followed him along the long porch. “That’s a strange way to describe it.”

“What do you fucking want me to say?” David turned on his lover, his lips pressed into a thin angry line.

“Nothing.” Orlando soothed him gently, one hand reaching out to stroke David’s trembling arm. “But I think you should tell someone what is making you so angry.”

“I’m not fucking angry.” David spat, shrugging away from Orlando’s touch.

“Then what’s hurting you so badly that you can’t talk to anyone.” Orlando stepped closer, pressing one hand against David’s back.

“Please.” David pleaded with him as he shrugged away. “Stop. Touching. Me.”

“What happened to you over there?”

“Nothing.” David growled as he stalked along the verandah. Stopping suddenly, he leaned against the railing, his hands wrapping around in a white-knuckled grip.

Sudden realization dawned on Orlando, his heart breaking for his lover. “It’s not what happened to you, is it?” he asked softly, his mind filled with images of unspeakable atrocities he had been forced to commit. “What did you have to do over there?”

A miniscule shrug of David’s shoulders was his only response.

“David, he’s your brother.” Orlando whispered softly, as he stepped closer to David. “Nobody at all would blame you for anything you needed to do to bring him home.”

“Easy words for you to say.” David snarled harshly, moving farther out of Orlando’s reach.

“Because I mean it. They’re not just words, David.”

“Now you do. But when you find out that I helped my brother torture another human being will you still be so accepting? When you know that I killed men and didn’t feel a moment of remorse will you still think that you love me?” Eyes glassy with his shame, he searched Orlando’s face.

Orlando released his breath and let his eyes fall closed for the briefest of moments, before he looked into David’s eyes again. “Did it help you find Craig?”

David didn’t speak, just nodded, his icy eyes searching deeply into Orlando’s, before he looked away, turning towards the horizon again. “Go back to bed, Orli.”

“No. Look at me, David.”

David shook his head, his stance taut, his shoulders hunched tightly. The pain in his every movement tore at Orlando’s heart. No one deserved what he was inflicting on himself, but Orlando wasn’t sure how to make him see that. “Fuck off, Orli. Just. Leave. Me. Alone.”

Orlando put his hand on David’s shoulder, a silent entreaty for his lover to look at him. David spun, grabbing Orlando’s wrist and pushing him back against the unforgiving wall behind them. His shoulders hit the wood with a sharp crack, his head snapped back against the wood, the sudden pain sliding his eyes closed for an instant. One shaking hand squeezed Orlando’s wrist painfully, long hard fingers digging sharply into his skin, the other forearm pressed against his throat almost hard enough to constrict his breathing. Careful not to show any emotion, he looked up into David’s angry face.

“I asked you not to touch me. I don’t want you to touch me. I don’t want you to love me. I want you to leave me the fuck alone.”

“You think you’re going to scare me away?” Orlando asked calmly, his voice quiet. “You think that if maybe I think that you’re going to hurt me that I’ll just fade away and you won’t have to deal with emotion and feelings and all that shit that you’ve pushed away for so long?”

“You would if you had any sense at all.” David pressed his body against Orlando’s, his eyes skimming over the younger man’s face. “Loving me will hurt you. Hurt you. Badly. Don’t you fucking understand that?”

“Not a hope I would leave you. I’m here for the long haul. I love you whether you want me to or not. I know it frightens the hell out of you. But it’s true. I know that it’s absolutely terrifying for you that I might have made it in under that tough hide of yours, that you might let yourself love me, but none of that is important now. Stop letting whatever it is eat you up inside, you stubborn bastard. Tell me.”

“I. Can’t. Tell. You.” His grip on Orlando’s wrist released; he stepped back, looking at the ground.

“Why not? You can tell me anything, David; it won’t change anything between us.”

“For fuck’s sake, Orli, how can you say that?! You haven’t got the first clue what we did.” David slid down the wall, his legs almost giving out under him. Curling his legs up, his hands trembling as he looped them around his legs, he rested his head on his up drawn knees.

“Answer me one question, David: did you save your brother’s life?” Orlando sat beside him, their shoulders barely touching as they leaned back against the wall.

“I’m not even sure of that yet.” David hissed harshly, “But yes, he’s alive and we have him back.”

“Then whatever you did is worth it.”

“How can you say that?”

“Because you were protecting your family the only way you could or knew how. The people you love. Your family, they are the most important thing in the world. You should protect them whatever way you can, by whatever means you can. I would.”

“You would what?” David frowned, turning his head to search Orlando’s face.

“If it would save your life, I would take a life; to save your life I would take a dozen lives.” Orlando pressed one hand to David’s knee. “In a heartbeat. I’d worry about it later, but I wouldn’t regret it for a moment, not if it kept you with me.”

“You can’t mean that, Orlando. You haven’t known me long enough, you don’t know me, you have no fucking idea what I’m capable of.”

“On my own life, I’ve never meant anything more. I’ve lost one person I love, I won’t do it again. Do you want me to go and find someone for you to talk to?”

“I’m fine.”

“Forgive me if I don’t believe you. So, you need to talk about it and you’re stuck with me…I’m a good listener.”

David took a deep breath, his chest heaving with the effort as he began to speak. “I don’t want you to hear the things we did, Orli. I don’t want to see you look at me differently. I don’t think I could stand seeing you look at me with disgust in your eyes.”

“That won’t happen, whatever it is that you’ve done. That’s not the real you, even if it is a part of the man that I love. And it’s all a very big part of why I love you.”

“I don’t…”

“Let me tell you about a very special man.” Orlando interrupted David as he began to argue. “You see, the man that I love is warm and kind, and caring and passionate.” Orlando kept talking, not even acknowledging David as he continued to interrupt. “He’s a man who protects his family with such noble savagery that he would deliberately sentence his soul to his own personal purgatory just to save them from the same hell.”

“You believe too much in fantasy, Fairytale Boy.” He leaned his head back against the wall, his eyes closed.

“In a way,” Orlando nodded thoughtfully, “I guess you’re right. I do. Except, my fantasy man stepped right out of the fairytale the day he stepped between me and a pack of wild men. The same way I know you did for your brother. The same way I know you wouldn’t blink an eye if you had to snap the neck of anyone who hurt your kin. The same way I know you saved a tiny malnourished orphan and claimed her as your own.” Orlando smiled as David’s head snapped up, his eyes narrowing as they searched Orlando’s face. “Did you think I wouldn’t find out what a good man you are?”

“Dom’s got a big mouth.”

“Dom loves you. You’re his best friend and you’re scaring the crap out of him.

“He can’t know.” David breathed, his head sinking back against the wall, his eyes squeezing shut again. “Unless Pip tells him, Dom can never know what we did.”

“You have to tell someone, David, before it eats you alive.”

David shook his head sharply. Leaning forward, he rested his head on his knees. Hand trembling, Orlando let it hover above David’s taut body before he pressed it against the shirt-covered flesh, stroking gently.

“I’ve killed men before. I couldn’t do what I do and not. But this was different. I’ve always felt remorse. Always. It’s always kill or be killed. I could make my peace with that. A reflexive thing almost.” David paused, his throat working convulsively as he struggled not to break down. “I held a man down while Billy tortured him relentlessly until he told us what we needed to know.” A shudder at his own revulsion rippled up David’s spine. “I can still hear his screams inside my head.”

“Did he tell you what you needed to know?”

“Eventually.”

“Then whatever you did…it was justified.”

“It was wrong, no matter what the outcome.” David sighed, “We should have found another way, and there must have been another way. Somehow, we should have found a way that didn’t make us one of them. Aside from getting Craig back, it didn’t matter in the end. We’re no better than they are.”

Orlando turned towards him and slid his hand across David’s chest, pressing his hand against his strongly beating heart. “In here, you know you’re wrong. You and Billy and those men that are like you are worlds apart from the men you fight against.”

“I think we’ve proved that wrong.”

Frustrated by David’s overwhelming guilt and his inability to see the good man that was within him, Orlando sat silently beside him, his hand remaining on David’s chest, absently stroking the muscular flesh under his fingers.

“Where did you find Craig?” Orlando breathed softly, trying to reach his lover from a different approach.

“He was in a couple of feet of muddy, fetid water in the bottom of a pit.” David closed his eyes, seeing the fragile shell of the vibrant young man they found. He struggled visibly with the images of his beautiful younger brother so badly beaten he was barely recognizable, even to his own kin.

“What had they done to him?”

“He was barely Craig when we found him. He didn’t know us.” Tears welled in David’s eyes as he spoke. “He was fighting to stay conscious, trying to hold his 2IC above the water. He thought we were them come back to hurt him some more.”

“You found someone with him?” Orlando asked, his hand still gently stroking David’s chest.

“His 2IC, Darren,” David murmured, tears starting to trickle down his cheeks. “We couldn’t save him, he was already gone.”

“But--?”

“Yeah,” David snorted derisively. “The only thing keeping my brother alive long enough for us to find him was his determination to keep his dead friend alive.”

“But you found him.” Orlando noted softly.

“I wonder if it wouldn’t have been better for him, for both of them, if we hadn’t.”

Orlando frowned, confused by David’s words. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he moved closer to David. “Back up a bit? Both? Are you telling me you could have saved Darren?”

“No.” David uttered flatly. His mind transported him back to his brothers, the place he wanted to be most in the world, but the place that had been killing him with every minute he spent there. “Craig and Billy.”

“Wait, I thought you said Billy wasn’t hurt.”

“I said he was in one piece,” David clarified with a sigh. “I never said he was alright.”

“Dom will help him, he won’t be alone when he gets back, it’ll be okay.”

“You didn’t see him, Orli.” David tilted his head to look into Orlando’s face.

“Craig? I’m sure he’ll be fine, he won’t leave you two.”

“Not Craig, Billy. It was like I’d never seen him before. Nothing was going to come between him and finding Craig. Not even me.”

“That’s what love will do. He loves Craig. He did anything he felt he had to.”

“He beat the crap out of him.” David shuddered as he recounted his memories. “I had been securing the perimeter with the rest of the team, he wouldn’t wait for back up. When I got to him, they were trading blows. Rasoul was his name, he was taunting Pip. Telling him how he had tortured Craig, how he’d beaten him with a baseball bat, how he’d stubbed out cigarettes in his skin, how he’d started amusing himself by pulling out Craig’s fingernails and systematically breaking his fingers. Telling him how Craig screamed as he cut his fingers off.” David drew in a deep, shuddering breath before he continued. “Pip lost it. If I hadn’t pulled him off Rasoul, he would have killed him. I’ve never seen him so furious.”

“What did you do?” Orlando asked quietly, loathe to interrupt David but needing him to continue.

“Told you, I pulled Billy off of him. I couldn’t let him do that. We hadn’t found Craig and Rasoul was the only living person in the camp that would be able to tell us.”

“He wouldn’t tell you, would he?”

“Not even when Billy made me hold him down so we could do the same things to him that he did to Craig. We did it without question, without thinking, without reasoning. We tortured another human being to get what we needed. Every single thing he had taunted Billy with, became his punishment. Billy was…” David swallowed convulsively, struggling with his memories as his eyes fell closed. “Billy was cold. Nothing was going to stop him finding Craig. I thought I knew all of Billy. He frightened even me.” A bubble of ironic laughter burst from David’s cold lips. “Rasoul didn’t mind losing his fingers, but when Billy lit a cigarette, he was spilling his guts. Telling us anything we wanted to know.”

Orlando struggled to hide the shudder that rippled up his spine at the horrors that they had been forced to endure to save their beloved brother. “That’s when you found him?”

David nodded. “Rasoul was quite helpful while he led us to the pits that held their prisoners. Craig and Darren weren’t the only ones, the only western military, but there was six other men there.”

“What did you do with Rasoul?”

He swallowed, his mouth and throat dry. “Nobody has to worry about him anymore.”

Understanding the quiet finality of David’s answer, he nodded slowly. “You?”

“Billy.” David whispered, remembering the fury in his brother’s face when they had found the pits and his reaction.

“You said Craig didn’t remember you?”

“Billy dropped into the pit. Craig was in bad shape, his hands were mangled and swollen, his face was a bloody pulp. Thank God they many of the things Rasoul threatened weren’t true. Craig was so broken, but he was standing trying to hold Darren up and out of the water. When Billy touched him, Craig went crazy, screaming and begging for the pain to stop, begging him to leave them alone. Billy had to fight him to get them secured and out of the pit.”

“He knows you now?”

“Yeah.” David paused. “But I’ll never forget the look on Billy’s face. It broke him to think that Craig didn’t remember him. He’s been like a father to both of us. Sometimes I think we were the only thing that held Billy together. His heart broke in that pit.”

Orlando leaned back against the wall, sliding his arm around David’s shoulder, relaxing only when David slumped--exhausted--against him, wondering if Craig’s physical wounds would heal faster than the emotional torment the three brothers would endure.

[ Chapter 20](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/5357.html)


	20. Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists <20/33>

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/).

_  
**Western Lovers: Cowboys & Biologists (20/33)**   
_   
  
[   
](http://photobucket.com)

**Title:** Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists  <20/33>  
 **Author:**[](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/profile)[ **sassywitch**](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/)  
 **Beta** the patient and talented [](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/profile)[**charlieisagirl**](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/)  
 **Pairing:** OB/DW  
 **Rating:** NC-17 for the series, and for this chapter.  
 **Summary:** David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.  
 **Feedback:** Feedback is my writers crack, which is not to be confused at all with plumbers crack.  
 **Disclaimer:** Not at all true in reality. These men whilst adorable and perfectly happy to slash themselves, their actual relationship is something that they only know. This story is adapted from a series of books that I adored when I was younger written by Elizabeth Lowell.  
 **Word Count:** 3615  
 **Previous Story:** Can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1656893.html)  
 **Previous Ordaisy chapter:** As suggested by [](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/profile)[**mystery_ink**](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/) can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1650642.html)  
 **Previous Chapters:** [ Chapter 1](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/353.html)|[ Chapter 2](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/597.html) |[ Chapter 3](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/910.html)|[ Chapter 4](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1032.html)|[ Chapter 5](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1359.html)|[ Chapter 6](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1630.html)|[ Chapter 7](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2014.html)|[ Chapter 8](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2254.html)|[ Chapter 9](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2332.html)|[ Chapter 10](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2625.html)|[ Chapter 11](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3070.html)|[ Chapter 12](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3269.html)|[ Chapter 13](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3428.html)|[ Chapter 14](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3585.html)|[ Chapter 15](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3915.html)|[ Chapter 16](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4160.html)|[ Chapter 17](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4474.html)|[ Chapter 18](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4844.html)|[ Chapter 19](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4918.html)

 **Posted to:** [](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/profile)[**fellowshippers**](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/) , [](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/profile)[**monaboyd**](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/) and [](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/profile)[**ordaisy**](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/)  
 **Header Art:** Courtesy of the incredibly talented [](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/profile)[**loki_girl**](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/).  
 **Author’s Notes:** Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/).

~*~*~*~*~*

Orlando took a deep, shaking breath and acknowledged the truth to himself: David was hurting. Badly. And there was nothing that he would let Orlando do to help. When he had refused to leave David’s side and return to his cat tracking, David had given him no options. He had thrown a pack into the back of Orlando’s pick up and waited until Orlando had loaded Baby into the back and started the trek to Fangorn Canyon. In silence.

Once they arrived, David had wordlessly waited for Orlando to collect his gear and sling his pack onto his back before they had set out for the higher country. Orlando had followed patiently, smiling as David unconsciously offered a hand of affection to Baby as the wolf sensed his pain and persisted in pushing his head under David’s hand as they walked.

Standing now, watching David in the snow, his cold eyes staring into the distance, long fingers scratching idly through the thick ruff of fur on Baby’s neck, Orlando swallowed nervously. “You know, David, I do understand. I do really I do. But we’ve had this conversation before. I meant it then and I mean it now. You won’t love me. I can’t help loving you. Too bad. The earth’s still turning, the seasons won’t stop changing and babies are born, the weak die and there’s nothing we can do about that either.”

“Orlando….”

“Don’t, David.” Orlando advised him, stepping closer. “We’re alive. Both of us. No matter what happens, I want to live, David. _Live_ …”

“Even if it means I hurt you?” David turned to look into Orlando’s face, his voice filled with pain.

“Even then. What you want me to do is not living, David, it’s existing, and I owe it to my dead sister to live my life to the fullest. I won’t regret falling in love with you. But I will regret not loving you, pain or no pain.”

“Knowing what life truly is…” David hesitated, not wanting to hurt his lover more but needing to ask. “How can you?”

Orlando looked into the savage depths of David’s eyes and saw a curiosity that was as great as his wariness, as intense as the passion that burned for him…he was in every sense a wolf circling closer and closer to the beckoning campfire, pulled towards the flames against his deepest instinct of self preservation, enthralled by the radiant possibilities of the fire.

“I can’t do anything else, David.”

David pointed off to the right where a deer had left tracks along the margin of the open forest. “Follow those tracks, Orlando. They’ll tell you all you need to know about the true nature of living.”

Without a word Orlando signaled for Baby to heel and began following the deer tracks, knowing what he would find. The mama cougar was alive, which meant other life must die to sustain the cat. It was the way it had always been. It was the way it would always be. Life fed. Life must take life to survive. It was the very thing that distinguished life from death.

The deer tracks ended in a tumult of snow and muddy earth. Cougar tracks led away. The cat had been walking easily despite the limp burden of the deer clenched in its jaws and the hoofed feet dragging across the snow.

“A quick, clean kill,” Orlando said calmly, reading the tracks. “There’s nothing surprising in that. Cougars are among the most efficient predators on earth. All you have to do is watch them move and you know that they’re supremely adapted for the hunt and the kill.” He waited, but David said nothing. Taking a deep breath, he turned and confronted the warrior he loved.

“In moose country,” he continued, “A cougar will routinely stalk and kill moose that weigh up to eight times more than the cat does. Sometimes the moose wins and the cougar is injured. Cats are tough. It takes them a long time and horrifying amount of pain before they die. When it comes to death, nature is much more cruel to predators than predators are to their own prey.”

David simply watched Orlando with bleak eyes, saying nothing.

“And man is the only predator who can see into the future,” Orlando continued in a soft, relentless voice, his eyes never breaking contact with David’s. “Man knows that he, too, will die. That’s the critical difference between us and cougars. Yet even knowing that we’ll die, mankind is capable of creating as well as destroying, of loving as well as hating, of true living as well as sheer animal survival. Violent death is only a part of human reality, and not even the most important part at that.”

“And I suppose that love is?” David asked, sarcasm filling his voice.

“Yes.” Without realizing it Orlando raised his hand to the open collar of his jacket. He touched his throat, reassured by the familiar presence of Savannah’s ring. “Love is never wasted, never in vain. Never. But it can hurt like nothing else on earth.”

David watched with narrowed, cynical eyes, wanting to argue with him, to shake him from his foolish belief in love; yet the words died unspoken, for Orlando’s pain was very real and not foolish at all.

Saying nothing more, Orlando turned away from David, lifted the binoculars and searched the landscape, trying to forget David.

“What if there’s no hope for that love?”

“There’s always hope.”

“Not when all hope died so long ago.” David growled, turning his back to Orlando, struggling against the ocean of emotion that was beginning to wash over him like a tsunami. “I won’t let myself. I can’t I’ve seen what it does. It’s a predator, a cancer that lays in wait and knocks you to your knees and then goes for the jugular. I won’t be a victim of that.”

Orlando grit his teeth and clenched his fingers around the binoculars until his knuckles whitened, desperate to turn and take his lover into his arms and soothe the pain he heard in him.

“Then until you can let go of your fear, you’ll never really live.”

His misty eyes found the place where the cougar had dragged the deer and watched without seeing. He examined the remains of the cougar’s meal with the eyes of a biologist rather than those of a man who loved deer as well as cougars. Usually cats ate their fill, raked debris over the remains and walked off to nap nearby, returning to feed until the carcass was consumed or the remains disturbed by other predators. A careful survey with the glasses allowed Orlando to pick up the cougars tracks without coming close enough to alert the wary animal when it returned to feed.

“Baby. Heel.”

The big wolf came to Orlando’s side instantly, eyes alert, his whole being intent upon the man who had rescued him from an agonizing steel trap despite his own attempts to savage the very hands that were helping him. Gently, firmly, Orlando’s fingers wrapped around Baby’s muzzle in a command for silence.

The change that went over the wolf was indescribable. It was as though he had been standing in shadow and then stepped out into the sun. Past experience told Baby that the command to be quiet meant that the object of the hunt was probably close by, and the wolf was a predator from the tip of his erect ears down to the black pads of his feet. Walking as though on springs, Baby followed Orlando in a wide semi circle around the deer carcass. When he came across the fresh cat tracks, he bristled but made not one sound.

For over a mile they followed the tracks, David following Orlando as silently as Baby. The cougar’s tracks led up a long, shallow rise where trees offered only sparse cover, if any at all. Where the snow had melted through, a distinct green blush covered the ground. Despite the intermittent snow squalls, spring would not be denied.

Partway up the slope it became obvious that if the cougar’s den was on the far side; David would clear the rise first. Orlando didn’t want to panic the cat, maybe sending it searching for a new den. All he wanted to do was find the tracks and follow them to the den where he could watch the cat from a distance so as not to disturb the animal.

Frowning, Orlando tested the wind direction with a wet fingertip. He tested again and shrugged. The wind was weak, but unpredictable. Thankfully, scent wasn’t nearly the problem it would have been if he had been tracking wolves. Cougars depended on their eyes and ears rather than their noses.

Orlando stopped, looked at the gentle slope rising ahead of him, and sighed. It would be a cold, wet and sometimes muddy crawl, but there for no help for it if he hoped to get to the top without giving away their presence. He slipped out of his backpack, but before he set it aside, David went past him like a golden wraith. He had removed his hat and backpack but had kept his rifle.

Crouching, taking advantage of every scrap of cover, crawling on hands and knees and finally on his stomach, David went up the slope with a speed and silence that sent a shiver over Orlando. David moved like a cougar – confident, soundless, graceful and potentially lethal.

 _Let me tell you what the real world is like, fairy-tale boy…you walk through a narrow mountain pass in single file with five handpicked men and arrive at your destination and look around you and you’re alone, nothing on the back trail but blood and silence._

David eased up behind the cover of a bush, slowly pulled his binoculars out of his jacket, and began quartering the slope below. The cougar’s tracks continued, zigzagging across a boulder field where ancient trees had fallen like jackstraws. The tracks vanished. They didn’t reappear anywhere on the new snow beyond.

Patiently David scanned the boulders, looking for several big stones canted together to create a sheltered hollow, or for an uprooted tree, or for any irregularity in the land that would provide a den for a mama cougar and her cubs. Finally he spotted a collection of boulders with an opening at their base where a tree had blown down and created a small cave between the uprooted tree and the rocks. In the darkness of the hollow lay a long and tawny shadow.

David focused the glasses and found himself looking at the white muzzle, wheat-colored cheeks and sleek black facial marking of an adult female cougar. There was no doubt about the cat’s gender, for she was lying on her side while three spotted cubs nursed enthusiastically.

Slowly David put down the glasses and looked until he spotted the den once more. He memorized landmarks, cover, approaches, and the general lie of the land with the thoroughness of a man who’s life had depended on knowing just such information in the past. When he was satisfied that he could find the den again, he retreated down the slope as quickly and silently as he had gone up it.

Orlando waited for him at the bottom, a silent question in his eyes. David nodded and slid his hand up along Orlando’s cheek, holding him while he bent down until he could speak directly against his ear. Although there was little chance of the cat’s hearing them, David knew that voices carried an astonishing distance in the snowy silence.

“She’s denned up about two hundred feet beyond the far side of the rise,” he said softly, his breath ruffling the soft curls around Orlando’s ear.

A shudder coursed through Orlando’s body, but it came from the touch of David’s hand rather than from the news about the mama cougar.

“Did she sense you?” Orlando asked, his voice low and soft.

“No.” David lowered his hand. “She’s still sleeping off her meal. I doubt she’ll be out and about before sunset. Maybe not even then.”

“Do you have a clear field of vision from the ridge?”

“Pretty good. It would be even better from there,” David said pointing to a spot farther along the crest, “But that’s the way she went from her kill to the den. I figured you didn’t want to leave tracks there.”

“Not until she’s finished with the carcass.”

Orlando tried to think of possible hiding places, places to build a blind for observation, places where the cougar wouldn’t be likely to find them and become alarmed; but all he could think about in that instant was how close David was and how much closer he had been in the past.

Motionless, David watched Orlando’s changing eyes and the delicate pressure of his teeth against his lower lip, the fiddling of Orlando’s fingers over David’s jacket hem while he thought about other things. If Orlando had been aware of his actions, David would have been angry. But David knew that Orlando wasn’t aware of what he was doing. Unfortunately, that knowledge did nothing to counter the sudden hard rush of his blood when Orlando’s hand brushed against his jeans. David captured Orlando’s fingers and placed them on his beard.

“If you have to pet me while you think, keep it above the waist.”

Orlando flushed. “I didn’t mean…”

“I know,” David interrupted tightly. “You weren’t thinking about what you were doing. But I was. I like being petted by you. I like it way too much. The ground is cold and hard and wet, but I wouldn’t care, and after a few minutes you wouldn’t either. The mama cougar might get kind of curious though. You make such wild sounds when I’m buried in you.”

Orlando’s color deepened to scarlet.

“Don’t,” David said in a husky voice, knowing he shouldn’t speak but unable to help himself. “I like hearing you, feeling you, smelling you, tasting you. I liked it too damn much. You were a virgin, but you took all of me and shivered with pleasure…” David let his breath rush out between his teeth in a hissing curse. “I came up here for cougars, not sex. So get up there on that slope and watch your mama cat, fairytale boy. I’ll circle around and reconnoiter the far side.”

David turned and walked off, heading away from the rise, moving with easy, powerful stride that was as much a part of him as his pale blue eyes. Orlando watched him for a full minute before he took a ragged breath, turned around and went up the rise, following the tracks that David had made.

 _I came up here for cougars, not sex._

The words hurt, but he had no more meant to hurt Orlando than he had meant for his absentminded fidgeting to arouse David.

 _You wouldn’t have gotten sex from me, David Wenham. You never have. You never will. What I gave you was love, not sex, and somewhere deep inside your stubborn warrior soul you know that too._

 _Don’t you?_

There was no answer but the one implicit in the nickname David had given him.

 _Fairytale Boy_

  
[ Chapter 21](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/5428.html)


	21. Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists <21/33>

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/).

_  
**Western Lovers: Cowboys & Biologists (21/33)**   
_   
  
[   
](http://photobucket.com)

**Title:** Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists  <21/33>  
 **Author:**[](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/profile)[ **sassywitch**](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/)  
 **Beta** the patient and talented [](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/profile)[**charlieisagirl**](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/)  
 **Pairing:** OB/DW  
 **Rating:** NC-17 for the series, and for this chapter.  
 **Summary:** David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.  
 **Feedback:** Feedback is my writers crack, which is not to be confused at all with plumbers crack.  
 **Disclaimer:** Not at all true in reality. These men whilst adorable and perfectly happy to slash themselves, their actual relationship is something that they only know. This story is adapted from a series of books that I adored when I was younger written by Elizabeth Lowell.  
 **Word Count:** 3348  
 **Previous Story:** Can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1656893.html)  
 **Previous Ordaisy chapter:** As suggested by [](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/profile)[**mystery_ink**](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/) can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1650642.html)  
 **Previous Chapters:** [ Chapter 1](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/353.html)|[ Chapter 2](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/597.html) |[ Chapter 3](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/910.html)|[ Chapter 4](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1032.html)|[ Chapter 5](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1359.html)|[ Chapter 6](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1630.html)|[ Chapter 7](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2014.html)|[ Chapter 8](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2254.html)|[ Chapter 9](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2332.html)|[ Chapter 10](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2625.html)|[ Chapter 11](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3070.html)|[ Chapter 12](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3269.html)|[ Chapter 13](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3428.html)|[ Chapter 14](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3585.html)|[ Chapter 15](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3915.html)|[ Chapter 16](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4160.html)|[ Chapter 17](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4474.html)|[ Chapter 18](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4844.html)|[ Chapter 19](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4918.html)|[ Chapter 20](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/5357.html)

 **Posted to:** [](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/profile)[**fellowshippers**](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/) , [](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/profile)[**monaboyd**](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/) and [](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/profile)[**ordaisy**](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/)  
 **Header Art:** Courtesy of the incredibly talented [](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/profile)[**loki_girl**](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/).  
 **Author’s Notes:** Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/).

~*~*~*~*~*

Dom sat on their front steps, his knees drawn up to his chin, his long arms folded around his legs. The letter Billy had written weeks ago, and left propped against the framed photo on his desk was clutched in his trembling fingers.

When David had returned, emotionally broken, after just a few days, willing to impart so little information on his Billy’s whereabouts, Dom had really started to worry. It wasn’t as if he didn’t trust David’s judgment, but Dom had seen the state Daisy had come home in. His Billy was strong, Dom knew that, but he had also seen first hand the scars that the warrior life had left on Billy’s soul. Dom wasn’t sure how deeply new wounds would affect his lover, or if, this time, he’d be able to completely recover. At least while David had been with Billy, they each had someone they could lean on, now Billy was ostensibly all alone and suffering.

For thirty seven days Dom had done as Billy had asked. He had loved their children enough for both of them, assuring them that their papa would be home soon, laying with Daisy-May in her little princess bed each night assuring her that her Billy would be back to tuck her in himself soon. Watching Daisy-May’s sleep patterns slowly degenerating as Billy’s time away increased. But, for Dom, the calm façade was just that, a fragile shield that he showed the world. Inside Dom was crumbling, day by day, the endless waiting without news of Billy’s health and wellbeing was tearing him apart.

His elegant fingers worried the edge of the envelope he held. Not a day had passed since Billy had left when Dom hadn’t finished his own day, his legs drawn up to his chin, sitting in Billy’s office chair, watching the envelope as it sat on the desk. Taunting him. Dom wasn’t stupid, naïve maybe, but not stupid. He knew that inside that envelope was what could be his partner’s final thoughts of their life together. He both loathed and loved that small rectangular offering. The fact that Billy had felt the need to leave such a message broke Dom’s heart. Billy had known the harsh realities before his departure, the danger he faced would make his return more than improbable. The fact that Billy had neglected to tell Dom of the danger they were facing only deepened his undying love for the man he had married.

There were days when Dom could barely stand to leave the envelope unopened. He missed the husky Scottish brogue that lulled him to sleep each night, he missed the tight embrace of his lover’s arms, he missed waking up with his Billy wrapped in his own arms, their protective roles reversed as they slept; he missed sharing their children’s lives with Billy, but most of all he missed knowing that his Billy was safely by his side, loved, protected and well out of harms way.

Early this morning David had received a phone call, after which he had briefly visited Dom to tell him that sometime tonight, Billy would be home. Dom had all the patience in the world when sifting through the remnants of history, but when it came to waiting he had none, his Billy was on his way home in God knows what state and Dom needed to see him, if only to put his mind to rest. So immediately after he had put the children to bed, Dom, the envelope and a baby monitor, had been sitting on their steps waiting for his lover, waiting patiently for Billy to return.

Watching the sweep of powerful driving lights as they entered the Double L’s home yards, Dom could barely contain his anticipation. He recognized the rumble of Viggo’s truck, he knew that very soon his soul would once again be complete, but more importantly, he would be able to put his Billy back together, the same way he had watched Orlando begin to heal Daisy.

Dom sat on the stairs, silently, even as Viggo stopped his truck at the end of the driveway. He appeared to be watching patiently as Billy and Viggo sat and spoke for long moments. To anyone who knew him, however, Dom’s impatience was tangible, his bare toes tapping the air nervously as they hung over the edge of the step, desperate for a glimpse of his Billy as the light of the full moon cast shadows across the interior of the trucks cab, obscuring Billy from his hungry gaze.

The truck door opened, and Dom’s breath caught in his throat as he got his first glance of the man he loved. It was exactly as Dom had feared, Billy had suffered while he was away. He may not have been physically injured, but to Dom’s loving but critical eye, Billy appeared to have endured the pain of a lifetime in every minute he was away.

As Dom watched, Billy slid from the truck. Dom could see the strain of Billy’s journey weighing heavily on him physically. His every movement told Dom that Billy felt every one of his years and then some. Leaning into the back of the truck, Billy pulled out his pack and slung it over his shoulder. Tapping his hand twice on the side of the truck as Viggo drove off, he sighed deeply and moved towards his home. Eyes focused on his feet, Billy walked slowly to the bottom of the front stairs, as he reached the bottom step, he saw bare toes and looked up into Dom’s face.

Watching as Billy walked closer, tears welled in Dom’s eyes at the pain that radiated from his lover. Billy’s shoulders were slumped, his clothes rumpled and hanging more loosely on his frame than they had when he left, and his hair was disheveled, peppered with more gray than Dom remembered, framed Billy’s too pale face.

“Dom.” Billy breathed, searching Dom’s face, his usually sparkling green eyes dull and red rimmed, before he looked down again.

“Billy.” Dom sighed, his own eyes filled with tears, as he drank in the sight he had resigned himself to never seeing again.

“I’m so sorry, Dom.” Billy murmured, dropping his pack to the ground at his feet.

Dom sat, for the longest of moments, tears trickling down his cheeks before a wide smile split his face. Lifting the envelope he still held, he saw Billy watching the envelope. Gripping it in both hands Dom ripped it sharply down the middle, destroying that which he would never need to read, before launching himself off the step and into Billy’s arms.

Billy closed his arms around Dom’s trembling body and held him tightly against himself, soaking up his warmth and his love.

“I’ve missed you so much.” Billy murmured into Dom’s neck.

“I can’t begin to tell you how much I missed you.” Dom’s hand’s framed Billy’s face, his thumbs caressing Billy’s cheekbones as he watched his beloved’s face, tears gathering on his long lashes. “Next time I’m going with you.”

“I’m the warrior, Dom,” Billy smiled wanly, “You’re the lover, remember?”

“I think I’d have to dispute that, you’re the only lover I ever want.” Dom whispered, pressing his lips to Billy’s.

“How are the kids?” Billy asked quietly, breaking off their kiss, he pressed his forehead against Dom’s.

“The twins are perfect. They’re good kids, almost every night they sleep right through.” Dom replied, his voice soft and wistful, “Lana is so your daughter, she’s got the most adorable whistle when she sleeps,” Dom pressed a kiss against Billy’s cheek.

“How’s my sugarplum?” Billy probed quietly, his fingers caressing Dom’s skin, as if he were making memories with his fingertips.

“She misses her Billy.” Dom shrugged, “I read to her, I hold her while she goes to sleep, but I’m no substitute for her Billy. I can’t wait to see the look on her face when she knows you’re home.”

“I love you, Dom,” Billy murmured regretfully, lifting his hand to caress Dom’s face gently as he spoke.

“Billy, what is it? What’s wrong? What aren’t you telling me?” Dom’s hand covered Billy’s as his other hand cupped Billy’s chin and turned his face up to force him to look into Dom’s eyes. “You won’t look at me, you’re obviously upset about something, what happened to you that you can’t look at me.”

“I don’t deserve you Dom, or the kids.” Billy murmured, allowing himself to look briefly into Dom’s eyes before letting his eyes slide quickly closed. “I should never have come back.” He reached down to loop his hand through one strap of his pack. “I’m going to go and find a bed in the bunkhouse.”

“Like Fuck you will,” Dom growled, his chest tight with the pain of Billy’s attempted departure. One hand snapped out and long fingers closed around Billy’s wrist. “You’re staying here in your home, with your family.” He paused, unable to hide the sound of tears in his voice. “With me.”

“I can’t Dom, I won’t taint you. I’m not worthy. Not of having beautiful children, and certainly not to accept your pure, beautiful love,” Billy replied.

“We’re not going to fight about this now Billy.” Dom spoke softly, his hands folded around Billy’s wrists. “You’re going to come inside, you’re going to take a shower and then we’re going to bed. I don’t know about you but I’m bloody knackered and I want to sleep wrapped around my husband.” He lifted Billy’s hands to kiss his knuckles gently. “I miss my Billy’s arms around me.”

“Can I see the kids before I go, Honey?” Billy asked softly, his eyes closed.

“Of course you can, because you’re not going anywhere,” Dom murmured.

“I can’t stay Dom. You all deserve so much better,” Billy whispered, his arms dropping limply to his side.

“Maybe.” Dom shrugged, a slight grin turning up the corners of his lips as Billy’s eyes snapped open and searched his face. “But not one of us wants anybody but you. You’re stuck with us Billy. Whether you want us or not.”

“Wanting is not the issue, Dom,” Billy replied, his voice flat, “I’ve done….things…illegal things.”

“Things which saved Craig’s life,” Dom retorted quickly. “When it’s life or death important Billy sometimes legality is blurry. It doesn’t matter to me, you’re still the man I love, you’re still the father of my babies, and most importantly, you still have two living, breathing brothers who love you for who you are, not what you’ve done.”

“Your rose colored glasses won’t help you if anything comes of my actions, Honey,” Billy tried to explain.

“Then we’ll deal with that when and if it happens, Bills.” Dom cupped Billy’s cheek and leaned forward to press a kiss against Billy’s lips. “Now come inside, you’re exhausted.” Dom bent down to slip his fingers through the straps of Billy’s backpack. “Things won’t look quite so bad in the morning.”

“Things will be exactly the same in the morning, Honey.” Billy sighed, giving in to his hearts wish, ignoring his better judgment.

As they entered their home, Dom dropped Billy’s pack on the floor just inside the door and looped his arm around Billy’s waist, leading him wordlessly through their bedroom and into their bathroom. A fresh fluffy towel, clean sweats and a faded t-shirt sat on the edge of the vanity unit, waiting for Billy.

Turning him in his arms, Dom cupped Billy’s face with one hand and pressed their lips together. A long slow kiss filled with need and love and relief, Dom’s fingers lifted to slide through Billy’s tangled hair.

“Shower, Bills. I’ll be here when you’re done.” Dom wrapped his arms around Billy’s waist and held him tightly against his body. “I’ve missed you so much,” He whispered before he released him and turned to leave the room.

Billy’s hands moved mechanically, pulling his shirt over his head then moving to unbuckle his pants.

“Dom?” Billy called softly without turning around. “I missed you so much. I couldn’t not come back.”

“I know, Bills,” Dom murmured softly from the doorway as he paused, watching Billy drop his khaki pants to the floor. Tears welled in his smoky blue eyes as he saw the ravages of his journey on Billy’s body. Turning away before he could take his love back into his arms and make all the hurts go away, he walked out of the bathroom.

~~~~~~

Dom didn’t know how long he stood in the doorway of the nursery, watching their children as they slept peacefully, unaware of the struggle their father was fighting, their innocent faces pressed into their pillows, tucked into their beds safely, just as their papa promised them.

Walking slowly back into their bedroom, his brow furrowed as he heard the water in the shower still running. As he stepped into the bathroom, he saw Billy kneeling naked under the steady jets of water, his forehead pressed against the white tiled wall, his shoulders trembling, the skin of his hands scraped raw as Billy scrubbed at them with a nailbrush. The tears that had been clinging tenuously to Dom’s lashes trickled down his cheeks. Without hesitation, Dom dragged his t-shirt over his head, opened the door of the shower cubicle and stepped under the flow of tepid water. Wrapping his arms around Billy’s waist, Dom pressed his body against Billy’s.

“Ssh, Bills,” Dom soothed him, his hands gently stroking Billy’s chest “It’s alright, let it out sweetheart.”

“I can’t get the blood off, Honey,” Billy whimpered, grinding the nailbrush harder against his knuckles.

Dom’s hands slid slowly over Billy’s hands, stilling the frantic scrubbing, his thumbs gently caressing the abraded skin. “It’s alright, Billy. I’ll help you get clean.”

“I didn’t want you to see it,” Billy explained. “You should hate me for it.”

“Ohhh, Billy,” Dom whispered against Billy’s ear, the slowly chilling water pounding against their skin, one hand reaching to lift a face washer, rubbing it across Billy’s hands. Taking one of Billy’s hands in both of his, Dom washed it slowly, swiping it tenderly across the sensitized skin. “Look, Sweetheart, I’ll help you get them clean. We’ll do it together.” Dom pressed a soft kiss against the side of Billy’s face as he spoke.

“I shouldn’t have done it, Dommie.” Billy turned his head and looked into Dom’s face, blinking as the shower spray hit his face. “I didn’t think. I shouldn’t have done it.”

“Bills,” Dom sighed. “I don’t know what you did but I’m sure that whatever it is you had to do it.” Pulling him back against his chest he held him tightly. “I love you, we’ll get through this.”

“I should never have come home, Honey,” Billy murmured, his hands covering Dom’s on his chest.

“That’s crap. You belong here, with me, with our babies.” Dom spoke against his ear, water cascading across their bodies.

“When you know what I’ve done, you won’t want me here. You won’t want me near our children,” Billy whispered.

“I don’t care about any of that Billy, I care about you,” Dom answered. Pulling back a little, Dom’s fingers lifted to caress Billy’s tense shoulders. “Just for tonight, Bills, forget all about what you did, whatever it is that is bothering you. It never happened. Just tonight, come to bed with me. Let me hold you and keep it all away.”

“I don’t deserve you, Honey.” Billy leaned back into Dom’s touch.

“Yes you do,” Dom crooned, pulling Billy with him from the cubicle. Lifting the towel from the vanity, he slowly toweled Billy dry.

“Dom?” Billy observed distractedly. “Your pants are wet.”

“I was just in the shower with you.” Dom grinned up at him, as he knelt in front of him the towel brushing across his skin.

“’m sorry, Honey.” Billy’s fingers trailed through Dom’s wet hair as he spoke.

“I’m not,” Dom stated with a small smile. “You’re back, at the moment that’s all that matters.”

“Maybe.” Billy shrugged, pulling Dom to his feet and kissing him softly.

“Why don’t you go say hello to the kids while I get changed,” Dom suggested as he handed Billy the sweats that were still laying on the vanity unit. “Then I think we could both use a good night’s sleep.”

“I could sleep for a month.” Billy admitted. “It feels like I haven’t slept since I left here.”

“Then I’ve got just the prescription for you.” Dom pecked him quickly on the lips as Billy stepped into the sweats. “Our bed, you and me.” Dom pushed him towards the door. “Go see the kids, sweetheart.”

Stepping out of his wet yoga pants, Dom walked naked into their bedroom and pulled a pair of faded sweats from the dresser, stepping into them before following the path Billy would’ve taken to get to their children. Pausing at the door, he watched as Billy moved away from Lana’s crib and leaned into Lennox’s, his trembling fingertips dragging across his son’s paper fine, baby skin gently, the palm of his hand cupping his son’s head tenderly. Dom wrapped his arms around his naked chest as he watched Billy turn and walk across the room to the toddler size bed that held their eldest daughter.

  
Many times over the last few weeks, Dom had marveled over the similarities between Billy and Daisy-May. Genetically they had nothing in common but no-one could ever be mistaken that she was Billy’s daughter. She shared all of his mannerisms and as her vocabulary grew her voice even had traces of Billy’s Scottish accent. She even slept like Billy, her tiny body curled up in a ball, burrowed deep under the covers, only her cherubic face exposed. As he watched, Billy fell to his knees at the bedside, his trembling fingers reaching out to push her tousled ebony curls back from her sweetly innocent face. Leaning forward, Billy pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead, a small smile curling Billy’s lips as Daisy-May snuggled into his touch.

Fingers caressing her tiny fist as it lay on the pillow beside her head, tears began to trickle down Billy’s cheeks. Dom watched from the doorway as Billy’s tears splashed against their daughter’s warm skin before he moved quietly into the room to clasp his warm hands around Billy’s bare shoulders. Kneeling behind his lover, Dom released his hold long enough to let his hand trace gently across Billy’s bare back.

“C’mon Bills,” Dom murmured against his ear. “I think it’s bedtime.”

Billy didn’t speak, he merely leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss against Daisy-May’s forehead, and stood. Dom slipped one long arm around Billy’s waist and steered him out of the nursery. His brow furrowed at Billy’s unusual complacency as he allowed himself to be led toward their bedroom.

Reaching the side of their bed, Dom turned Billy in his arms, his fingertips tracing Billy’s face slowly, memorizing every pore of his skin.

‘I love you, Billy, no matter what you think you’ve done.” Dom pressed his lips against Billy’s gently. “We’re going to bed now, I’m going to hold you in my arms, and keep you safe. The memories and the pain and torment you’re putting yourself through, they’re not coming to bed with us, Billy. Just you and me, and a good night sleep.” Dom closed his arms around Billy tightly, kissing his neck gently. “I’m going to keep you safe.”

Releasing Billy, Dom lifted the bedclothes for him and waited as he climbed into the bed. Dom walked around the bed and climbed into the other side, sliding into the middle of the mattress. Stretching his arms out, Dom pulled Billy into his embrace. Spooning his love, Billy’s tense back pressed against his body, Dom’s arms wrapped snugly around Billy’s torso. Dom’s face pressed against Billy’s neck, their legs tangled together and they laid there for long, silent moments.

“Billy, you can relax now. You’re home and I’ll watch over you,” Dom whispered into Billy’s ear. “It’s my turn now, Bills.”  
[ Chapter 22](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/5851.html)  



	22. Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists <22/33>

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/).

_  
**Western Lovers: Cowboys & Biologists (22/33)**   
_   
  
[   
](http://photobucket.com)

**Title:** Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists  <22/33>  
 **Author:**[](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/profile)[ **sassywitch**](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/)  
 **Beta** the patient and talented [](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/profile)[**charlieisagirl**](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/)  
 **Pairing:** OB/DW  
 **Rating:** NC-17 for the series, and for this chapter.  
 **Summary:** David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.  
 **Feedback:** Feedback is my writers crack, which is not to be confused at all with plumbers crack.  
 **Disclaimer:** Not at all true in reality. These men whilst adorable and perfectly happy to slash themselves, their actual relationship is something that they only know. This story is adapted from a series of books that I adored when I was younger written by Elizabeth Lowell.  
 **Word Count:** 4069  
 **Previous Story:** Can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1656893.html)  
 **Previous Ordaisy chapter:** As suggested by [](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/profile)[**mystery_ink**](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/) can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1650642.html)  
 **Previous Chapters:** [ Chapter 1](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/353.html)|[ Chapter 2](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/597.html) |[ Chapter 3](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/910.html)|[ Chapter 4](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1032.html)|[ Chapter 5](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1359.html)|[ Chapter 6](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1630.html)|[ Chapter 7](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2014.html)|[ Chapter 8](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2254.html)|[ Chapter 9](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2332.html)|[ Chapter 10](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2625.html)|[ Chapter 11](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3070.html)|[ Chapter 12](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3269.html)|[ Chapter 13](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3428.html)|[ Chapter 14](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3585.html)|[ Chapter 15](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3915.html)|[ Chapter 16](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4160.html)|[ Chapter 17](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4474.html)|[ Chapter 18](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4844.html)|[ Chapter 19](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4918.html)|[ Chapter 20](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/5357.html)|[ Chapter 21](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/5428.html)

 **Posted to:** [](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/profile)[**fellowshippers**](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/) , [](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/profile)[**monaboyd**](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/) and [](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/profile)[**ordaisy**](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/)  
 **Header Art:** Courtesy of the incredibly talented [](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/profile)[**loki_girl**](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/).  
 **Author’s Notes:** Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/).

~*~*~*~*~*

David walked slowly around the corner of Dom and Billy’s ranchhouse, a six pack of long neck beer bottles in his tight grasp. A small smile creased his face as he caught sight of Billy sitting on his porch steps.

“Heads up!” David called and as Billy looked up at him he tossed one of the beer bottles to him.

“Thanks.” Billy twisted the top off and took a long drink.

“How was the trip?” David sat on the step beside Billy, not looking at his brother but at the field behind the house.

Billy shrugged, taking another long swig of beer.

“Sorry I wasn’t here when you got home.” David apologized, his fingers idly peeling the label from the bottle.

“’sno’matter.” Billy shrugged again. “ ‘m a big boy, didn’t need a committee. Shouldna come back anyway.”

David pointedly ignored the snarky tone in his brothers voice as he took a long drink from his beer before speaking again.

“Craig?” David asked quietly.

“I nearly lost him.” Billy murmured, his fingers plucking at the wet label on the side of the bottle.

“But you didn’t.” David replied, “You saved him Pip. It was you that dragged him out of that pit. It was you that forced him to stay with us until we got him out of there. You found him, you kept him alive, it’s because of you he’s still with us.”

“I’ve never seen him like this Daisy.” Billy whispered. “He’s defeated, he’s given up hope. It’s like he’s not even in there any more. He won’t talk to me.”

“Give him time, he’s in pain Pip, he’ll get better.”

Billy’s only response was a shrug that David would have missed if he hadn’t been looking at him.

“What about you?” David queried gently.

“Me? I’m fine.” Billy turned to frown at him as he answered.

“Yeah, sure. I can tell.” David answered him sarcastically. “You’ve lost what? Twenty pounds that you couldn’t afford to lose to start with.”

“Fuck off, Daisy.” Billy growled as he pulled a second beer from the six pack, then grudgingly acknowledged his weightloss, "Eighteen."

“I’ll leave you to mope here on your own, but only after you talk to me.” David stated. “What the fuck is wrong with you, Pip?”

“I told you I don’t want to fucking talk about it. Just leave me be.” Billy growled, drinking his beer.

“I haven’t got a clue what it is, but Dom is miserable, you won’t talk to me. Hell the most expressive conversation I’ve gotten out of you is a shrug since you got back. And just to prove it, the absolute kicker, your Daisy-May comes to me before she goes to you. We all know that something is wrong, even she does, I want you to tell me you stubborn bastard.”

“She knows how fucking evil I am.” Billy whispered matter of factly. Dropping his now empty beer bottle to the step beside the first one, he pulled another one from the cardboard wrapping and twisted the lid off smoothly.

“You are not. I think you should slow down Pip.” David advised him gently, trying to look into his brothers eyes, to begin to understand what was going on in his head, but every time their eyes met Billy would break their contact and look pointedly at his feet again.

“Why is that exactly? My daughter hates me, my babies don’t know me, my husband deserves better than I can ever be,” he laughed depreciatively “Let’s face it, I wasn’t fucking anywhere near good enough for them to start with. What’s left? I’m a fucking murderer now, why not just add alcoholic to the mix. At least I’ll feel better.” Billy shrugged and stood, walking a few steps away from David on the stairs.

“She doesn’t hate you, and Dom loves you exactly how you are. You need to get your shit together Pip. Craig will need you more than any of us when he comes home and you’re useless to him like this.”

“I’m a murderer Daisy. I’m no better than a fucking terrorist.” Billy murmured, flopping back down onto the steps. “I can’t stay here.”

“You can’t stay here?” David exclaimed, his eyes wide. “What the fuck does that mean?”

“It means I should never have come back.” Billy whispered, almost to himself. “I should have left well enough alone and given them a clean break.”

“So that you completely break Dom? So you can leave three children with only one parent? You don’t remember how that goes? Do you want your kids to have our lives?”

“They’ll get over me. They don’t need me. I’m no fucking good for them. Anyway, it’s better than the alternative.” Billy answered flatly.

“Remember what you did to him last year?” David’s fists clenched at his sides as he tried to control his rising temper. His own ire would not help Billy’s frustrated anger at all. “That’s nothing compared to what you’re doing to him now.” David turned and paced sharply in front of him. “You’ve got too much to lose to melt down, Pip, you need to get a grip and stop doing this. So you killed someone, it’s not like you haven’t done it before. You did it to save our baby brother. You were a mercenary for fucks sake.”

“Working for Cate, I killed because I had to.” Billy stood, yelling at his brother, his beer dropping forgotten to the stairs, the glass smashing unnoticed as it hit the bottom step. “This was wrong. Wrong on so many levels. I killed him because I wanted to, David. I had no fucking control over myself. I killed him because I needed to. Everything he did to Craig, I wanted to do it all to him. Even when I had the gun pressed to his head, my finger squeezing the trigger, I wanted to punish him. I wanted him to suffer for killing my brother. I wanted to kill him slowly and painfully. When I pulled the trigger I regretted killing him. Not because I was taking another human life, but because I couldn’t make him suffer. I couldn’t stop myself. I’m a fucking murderer Daisy and I’m no better than the scum I killed.”

“You saved Craig’s life. And you saved other men. Someone else’s brothers and husbands. Yes, you killed someone but he didn’t leave you many options.” David slumped to sit on the stairs again and attempted to soothe his brother’s temper.

“You’re fucking kidding me?” Billy growled angrily, “Options? He was restrained and in custody. Co-operating with us. I made you hold him down while I tortured him. Don’t you remember begging me to stop, to think about what I was doing? The only one who had no options was him. I used him to get what I wanted then I executed him. Pure and Simple. I didn’t want to think. I wanted that bastard dead.”

“And if you hadn’t done that, Craig would be dead now in a pit in a war torn country and we’d never know what happened to him or how to find him. This time the end justifies the means Pip.”

“Does it really? Is that why you came running back here so soon?” Billy snarled.

“What does that have to do with anything? We’d found him, he was out of danger, we’re short handed here, Craig had you, he didn’t need me so I came home.” David explained quietly.

“That’s bollocks and you know it. I saw the way you were looking at me. I disgusted you, what I did made you sick. Don’t lie to me. I could see it in your eyes every time you looked at me. You came home to get away from me.”

David surged to his feet, grabbing his brother by the shoulders, turning Billy to face him. Opening his mouth to respond to Billy’s accusations, Billy responded violently. As he turned, Billy brought both of his arms up between David’s and pushed his forearms apart with his own arms. “Don’t. Touch. Me.” He directed harshly. “Why don’t you do us all a favour and just leave me alone.”

“No.”

Billy silently squared off his stance and waited for his brother’s response.

“You’re my brother, regardless of what you think I love you, maybe you don’t believe that but it’s true. You’re hurting and I want to help.”

“Then leave me alone.” Billy growled pushing both hands against his brothers chest, shoving him backwards. “Just go.”

David stumbled backwards but held his ground and watched his brothers eyes glistening. “I won’t do that again.”

“Please Daisy. Not today. Just leave me alone.”

“I don’t think so.” David shook his head, “You’ll just think yourself into a pit deeper than the one you dragged Craig out of. That’s not going to happen.”

Billy’s face hardened, his teeth clenching together, his lips a thin angry line. “Do you remember what happened last time you pushed me?”

“Yeah.” David nodded, his hands on his hips. “You needed a good kick in the ass then and you need it now apparently. I’m not afraid of you, Pip, and I’m not backing down.”

Billy pulled himself up to his full height, his fists clenching and unclenching at his sides, his sharp but infrequent temper flaring brightly as he reached up and punctuated his words with a jab of his finger into David’s chest. “Don’t push me, I’m not in the mood for this and this time I don’t have a fucking thing to lose.”

David struggled to hold onto his own temper as Billy leveled his rage at him, Billy’s words confusing him. “What? You’ve got Dom and the kids, You’ve got me, you’ve got Craig, What the fuck are you talking about Pip?”

He watched as Billy squeezed his eyes shut, his breathing harsh and rapid as he struggled with his anger and self loathing, his skin flushed crimson, the nearly transparent freckles on his normally pale face, darker against his flushed skin. Worried for his brothers health, David took a deep breath and spoke quietly again.

“Pip, I’m going,” David murmured. “Not because I’m disgusted, not because I don’t care, but because I’m worried about you. You’re going to blow a fuse Billy. Calm down. I want you to listen to me, and I don’t want you to respond, I’m telling you how things are. Nothing. Not one thing has changed since you left. Dom loves you just as much, if not more. The kids love you, I love you. We’ll all stand behind everything you did. Every single fucking thing. Craig is family; you have to do whatever you can for family. Nothing you did bothers anyone but you. You did what you needed to do, let us help you heal.”

David watched his brother’s shoulders trembling, realizing that Billy was crying, he struggled with the need to reach out and hug his brother to him, then cussed at himself silently. He knew his brother, physical contact would only exacerbate his mood. Jamming his hands into his pockets, David turned and walked silently back around the house.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Neither man had noticed the faces watching from the kitchen window. Both witnesses had struggled with the words and accusations that had been hurled back and forth across the yard as the brothers had fought. Dom wondered nervously if this fight would escalate into the fisticuffs that had become legend amongst the Double L crew. Watching his lover walk around the edge of the house, Orlando spoke softly to Dom gesturing out the window towards Billy who had walked to the base of the shade tree in their back yard and almost fallen into a crumpled heap there, his arms wrapped around his knees, his head buried in the denim covering his legs.

“Go…” Orlando whispered, “He needs you.”

“He doesn’t want me, you heard him.” Dom murmured, tears catching on his lashes.

“He’s hurting, he doesn’t know what he wants.” Orlando replied. “But he needs you.”

“That’s bollocks Orli, he’s been pushing me away since he got home. That…” Dom gestured wildly out the window “is not a man that needs me.” Dom answered.

“He loves you, he’s in a lot of pain. He needs help Dom, your help.”

“You heard him.” Dom repeated himself nervously.

“Yeah, I did. He’s killing himself from the inside out. He needs you to make him see sense.”

“I don’t think I can help him, I cant be like Daisy, you weren’t here the first time, he hurt me Orli, badly, I can’t let him push me away like that without falling to pieces. I can’t let him do that to me again. We have children now Orli, somebody has to care for them and Billy doesn’t seem to want to. I don’t think I could be fixed if Billy really broke me and I can’t afford to be broken, the kids need me.”

“Then fall to pieces, let him know how much you need him.” Orlando sighed sadly. “Dom, when my sister died I watched my mother disintegrate the same way Billy is. We never did enough to keep her there and alive. I won’t let you let him give up.” Orlando grasped Dom’s shoulders and propelled him towards the door. “go. Help him Dom. I need to go and find David.”

Orlando waited long enough to watch Dom walk out of the house and down the stairs towards Billy before he walked through the house toward the front door, intent on finding his lover.

~*~*~*~*~

Dom walked uncertainly across their lawn to Billy. The closer he got the slower he walked. His heart broke as he heard the broken sobs Billy was struggling to control.

“Bills?” he murmured softly as he stopped a few feet behind his husband.

“Go away, Honey.” Billy choked awkwardly wiping his face.

“I won’t.” Dom answered earnestly, moving forward to sit beside Billy on the grass. Wrapping his long arms around his legs, he rested his head on his knees and turned his face towards his lover.

“I should never have come back here.” Billy sighed, “but I couldn’t help it.”

“Billy,” Dom reached out a hand to stroke Billy’s arm gently. “I don’t think you realize just how much we need each other.”

“That’s the thing.” Billy turned his face away from Dom, his voice cracking as he spoke. “We don’t, do we.”

Dom’s throat constricted and he would have sworn his heart stopped beating. “Billy.” He croaked. “please don’t do this. Don’t say something that we’ll both regret.” He paused, his hand trembling as he stroked Billy’s arm. “Tell me what it I’ve done, what do I need to do to make you love me again?”

“What?” Billy twisted to look at Dom, his lashes wet with tears. “I’ll never stop loving you, Honey.”

“Then why the hell are you trying so hard to break my heart.” Dom’s hand cupped Billy’s face gently. “There’s too much at stake here Billy, the kids and I need you.”

“No, you don’t.” Billy answered flatly. “but I need you, Honey. I need you so much it hurts to stay away. I need you more than I need my next breath. I need you so badly that even for your own good I couldn’t make myself not come home.”

Dom couldn’t help but smile sadly at the slight hope Billy’s words brought. “I need you, just as much, if not more. Don’t you ever forget it.”

“You don’t need me, Honey. You need a good honorable man, a man who hasn’t done evil things.”

“For god’s sake Bills.” Dom sighed “You were a soldier, I know that, I know that you had to kill. I know that. That doesn’t make you the man that you are. You are the most honorable man I have ever met.”

“If I were to leave now, you could find someone else, someone who deserves you and your love,” his voice cracked as he struggled to say the words. “Someone who can grow old with you and help the kids grow into the adults you know they will be.”

Dom’s eyes closed as he struggled to hear Billy’s words. “Billy, look at me.” He asked him gently, waiting until he could see into Billy’s eyes. “Do you remember the first time you made love to me?” he whispered.

Billy’s eyes clouded as he nodded, his fingers closing over Dom’s hand and drawing it to his lips, to kiss his knuckles briefly.

“You taught me exactly what it means to love and be loved, you showed me that men that have been trained to kill, taught how to hurt people can also be filled with such gentle tenderness and beautiful love. With every touch you showed me that not all men are created equal. Some are filled with cruelty and are only capable of inflicting pain on people that they touch, but others may know a million ways to kill a man but can with just one touch share such incredible tenderness that it’s almost heartbreaking.”

“Dom….” Billy started to speak but Dom held up his free hand interrupting him.

“Don’t you dare tell me that the man that I love isn’t honorable and worthy of all the love I have to give and even more. You forget, my Billy, you aren’t the first warrior I’ve known. But you’re sure as hell the only man that I will ever love.”

“Dom, you’re thinking with your heart not your head.” Billy murmured, “You need to be smart, for the kids and for you.”

“I am being smart Bills.” Dom murmured, rocking up onto his knees, he caught Billy’s face in both of his hands. “If you leave, you’ll be taking my heart with you. And I’ll never seek another partner. There is no-one else that looks at me with eyes the colour of autumn grass, there’s no-one that could ever take your place in my head or my heart. My heart is your’s and always will be. I ache for you Bills, not because I want your body, but because I ache to feel your arms around me, to feel your heart beating against mine. You. Not some imaginary man that is more honorable and more deserving. You’re it, there is no-one on this planet that is more deserving of our love than you. If you go, the children will grow up with one parent. Don’t to that to them or me, or even to yourself,

Dom leaned forward and kissed Billy chastely on the lips before he stood slowly, letting his fingers trail across Billy’s as he released his hold on his hand.

“I’ll be inside, with the kids, Billy, we’ll be waiting for you.” He murmured and walked into the house.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Orlando jammed his hands in his pockets and walked up the hill towards the bunkhouse. He had no idea where David would go to lick his wounds after a fight with his brother and idol. Walking along the ground floor verandah, he turned the door handle slowly and slipped inside the door.

“I think you should go back to the cabin Orli.” David’s voice from the dim corner of the room startled Orlando.

“Not going anywhere.” Orlando shrugged and walked into the room, stopping inches behind David. Reaching out he looped his arms around David’s waist and pressed himself against his back, letting his chin rest against David’s shoulder. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“No.” David replied flatly.

“I think it would be good for you if you did.” Orlando murmured.

“I think it would better if you were to go back to the cabin.” David spoke through clenched teeth.

“Why? So that you can crawl back into that shell you don’t let anyone into?” Orlando surmised.

“Now isn’t the time for this Orli, let it go.” David sighed sadly.

“I can’t, you’re hurting, I want to help you.” Orlando replied.

“Talking about it won’t help. I need to find a way to get through to Billy.” David explained.

“I think you’ll find he’s in good hands at the moment.” Orlando supplied.

“Dom?” David questioned.

“Yeah, when I left Dom was on his way out to talk some sense into him.”

“Even Dom might not be enough.” David sighed.

“Dom will find a way.” Orlando assured him, pressing a soft kiss to the back of David’s neck.

“How much did you hear?” David asked softly.

“We were in the kitchen when you got there, so pretty much all of it.” Orlando confessed.

“I was never ashamed of or disgusted in him.” David whispered, tilting his head back to rub his thick hair against Orlando’s forehead.

“I know,” Orlando affirmed, his hand gently stroking David’s chest as he held him.

“Growing up, Billy was our hero.” David shrugged, “He did everything he could to make our lives as good as they could be. Even though he was the smallest of us, he was the strongest and most tenacious, when either Craig or I would give up, Billy would see that we succeeded, in everything.” David let one hand cover Orlando’s on his chest, his fingers gently stroking Orlando’s warm hand.

“He’s more than a brother isn’t he?” Orlando questioned, his lips warm against David’s ear as he held him tightly.

“Billy has never been just a brother. He’s been brother, father and best friend to us both since I was five years old. We’ve never needed anyone else, whenever something is wrong, Billy always fixes it. Always. Never worried about himself, even since we were grown he’s always made sure that we’re okay. That’s was why I was so happy when he found Dom.”

“He found his place.” Orlando nodded, pressing a soft kiss against David’s cloth covered shoulder, letting him talk while he would.

“I had never seen Billy as happy as he has been since he and Dom made their family. And now he’s throwing it all away.” David tilted his head forward, his chin resting against his chest.

“Dom won’t let him throw anything away.” Orlando replied, his breath warm on David’s neck, his hands gently caressing David’s firm chest. “Why did he think he disgusts you?”

“Because I came home.” David whispered. “I knew as soon as I told him I was going home that I was making a mistake, but I couldn’t stay there.”

“Why couldn’t you stay?” Orlando frowned, tightening his hold on David as he felt his body tensing.

“Because Billy is the fixer not me. Billy knows how to cope with what he has to do. He always has. Losing Craig was such a huge possibility, I didn’t know how I could deal with losing him, and I knew Billy wouldn’t cope with it at all. He’s always felt responsible for Craig. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t. I’m not like Billy.” He whispered. “I left because I was ashamed of myself. If the worst did happen, I know that I would have been no help.”

“you would have found it. In here.” Orlando whispered against David’s hair, his hand caressing David’s chest lovingly. “That’s what you do when the people you love are hurting, you find whatever it is they need and you help them.”

“I can’t do this Orli.” David’s words were little more than a whisper. “I can’t, I won’t let myself hurt and be hurt the way that Billy is.”

“Billy’s not hurting because he loves Dom.” Orlando replied, his fingers stroking David’s chest.

“Yes, he is.” David sighed, his fingers unconsciously stroking Orlando’s arms. “He wouldn’t have come back here until he had his head together if he didn’t have Dom.”

“Have you ever considered that he needed to come back here to sort himself out?” Orlando offered, his breath warm against David’s neck.

“That’s not what Pip does.” David shrugged gently.

“Maybe it is now.” Orlando murmured. “that’s what love does for you. Love gives you someone and somewhere safe. Somewhere you can be yourself and heal and just be who and what you are and know that there’s someone that loves you just like that and would do anything they can to make you happy.”

“I don’t need that.” David vowed.

“Everyone needs that,” Orlando murmured, his lips brushing across David’s neck as he spoke. “Sometimes it just takes a while to realize it.”

[ Chapter 23](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/5952.html)|  



	23. Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists <23/33>

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Courtesy of my net connection fritzing out every few minutes I'm posting early just in case I lose my connection completely. We're on the home run now folks. Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/).

  
[   
](http://photobucket.com)

**Title:** Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists  <23/33>  
 **Author:**[](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/profile)[ **sassywitch**](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/)  
 **Beta** the patient and talented [](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/profile)[**charlieisagirl**](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/)  
 **Pairing:** OB/DW  
 **Rating:** NC-17 for the series, and for this chapter.  
 **Summary:** David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.  
 **Feedback:** Feedback is my writers crack, which is not to be confused at all with plumbers crack.  
 **Disclaimer:** Not at all true in reality. These men whilst adorable and perfectly happy to slash themselves, their actual relationship is something that they only know. This story is adapted from a series of books that I adored when I was younger written by Elizabeth Lowell.  
 **Word Count:** 4069  
 **Previous Story:** Can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1656893.html)  
 **Previous Ordaisy chapter:** As suggested by [](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/profile)[**mystery_ink**](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/) can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1650642.html)  
 **Previous Chapters:** [ Chapter 1](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/353.html)|[ Chapter 2](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/597.html) |[ Chapter 3](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/910.html)|[ Chapter 4](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1032.html)|[ Chapter 5](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1359.html)|[ Chapter 6](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1630.html)|[ Chapter 7](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2014.html)|[ Chapter 8](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2254.html)|[ Chapter 9](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2332.html)|[ Chapter 10](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2625.html)|[ Chapter 11](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3070.html)|[ Chapter 12](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3269.html)|[ Chapter 13](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3428.html)|[ Chapter 14](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3585.html)|[ Chapter 15](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3915.html)|[ Chapter 16](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4160.html)|[ Chapter 17](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4474.html)|[ Chapter 18](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4844.html)|[ Chapter 19](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4918.html)|[ Chapter 20](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/5357.html)|[ Chapter 21](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/5428.html)|[ Chapter 22](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/5851.html)

 **Posted to:** [](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/profile)[**fellowshippers**](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/) , [](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/profile)[**monaboyd**](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/) and [](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/profile)[**ordaisy**](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/)  
 **Header Art:** Courtesy of the incredibly talented [](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/profile)[**loki_girl**](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/).  
 **Author’s Notes:** Courtesy of my net connection fritzing out every few minutes I'm posting early just in case I lose my connection completely. We're on the home run now folks. Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/).

~*~*~*~*~*

  
Dom sat in the rocking chair in the corner of the nursery, Lennox cradled against his chest. Holding the bottle of formula to his mouth Dom watched him sucking on the nipple, quickly demolishing his lunch. The tiny boy in his arms had no clue the turmoil that was making his daddy’s heart beat faster, all he knew was that he was safe and loved, held tightly in the warm loving arms of one of his fathers. Watching Lennox drink his formula, Dom struggled to rein in the emotions that were see sawing through him. Lifting one long hand to brush an errant tear from his cheek, Dom was startled to see Billy standing in the doorway, his face tear ravaged, his arms squeezed tightly around his chest.

As Dom opened his mouth to speak, but Billy lifted a hand gesturing for Dom to be quiet and not disturb the baby in his arms. He smiled briefly and stood leaning against the doorframe watching as Dom lifted their son against his shoulder and rubbed his back gently. Seeing the tenuous hope in Billy’s eyes, Dom was reluctant to break his gaze. Holding Lennox against him, he stood slowly, lowering his eyes to the baby’s face, ensuring the movement didn’t wake him. When he lifted his gaze again, Billy was gone. Releasing the breath he hadn’t realized his was holding Dom carefully deposited Lennox into his crib and tucked the blankets around him tightly.

Leaving the nursery wearily, Dom walked through the house intent on relieving the headache that was building behind his eyes. Lifting his gaze from his feet as he walked through the bedroom, he stopped dead in his tracks. Billy sat stiffly on the edge of the bed, his face pale as he watched and waited.

Dom took a deep breath, his heart breaking as he looked into Billy’s sad and broken eyes. Walking into the room, his hands trembled as he thought about what it was taking Billy to sit on the bed, waiting for him. Billy’s fists were clenched so tightly against his thighs, knuckles white. His beautiful mouth pressed into a tight line as he waited for the rejection he obviously thought was coming. In that moment, when he realized that Billy was waiting for Dom to confirm his own opinions of himself, Dom vowed that Billy wouldn’t leave their room without knowing exactly how Dom felt about him.

Moving quickly towards Billy, Dom dropped slowly to his knees in front of Billy. Looking up into Billy’s face, Dom lifted one hand to press his fingers against Billy’s lips as he started to speak. Leaning into Billy, Dom replaced his fingertips with a soft, gentle kiss, then moved back to sit back on his feet in front of Billy, watching him closely. Lifting both hands, Dom lifted one of Billy’s tightly clenched fists in both hands and carefully unclenched his tense fingers. Bending forward and pressing a kiss to Billy’s hand, he placed it back on his thigh and turned his attention to Billy’s other hand.

“Dommeh?” Billy murmured.

“Ssh,” Dom whispered, pressing his fingers against Billy’s lips again. “You don’t need to explain anything to me Bills. Let me show you how much I love you, how much we need you.”

Leaning down, Dom pulled Billy’s boots from his feet and slipped the thick socks off as well. Lifting one foot, Dom’s long fingers gently massaged Billy’s foot. Fingers brushing against the soft flesh, he lifted Billy’s foot and pressed his lips to the top of it. Repeating his actions with the other foot, Dom straightened and shuffled forward on his knees, until he was between Billy’s thighs.

Dom’s hands slid slowly up and down Billy’s arms, caressing his firmly muscled biceps slowly. Pressing his lips against the hollow at the base of Billy’s throat, he started to unbutton Billy’s shirt. Unable to stop the slight tremor in his own fingers as he slipped each button free, his gaze moving up to catch Billy’s, as he pushed the shirt slowly from Billy’s shoulders.

Tilting his head, Dom pressed his lips to Billy’s and kissed him gently. His lips touched Billy’s softly, his tongue tracing across his bottom lip slowly before he pulled away.

“Honey,” Billy whispered, his eyes red rimmed and glistening, his tongue flicking out to taste Dom on his lips. “I don’t think….”

Dom pressed his fingers to Billy’s lips again, his thumb brushing across his bottom lip. “This isn’t about making love, this is about us.”

“But…” Billy prodded.

“But nothing, Billy. I love you, I need you. Nothing you have ever done will change that. Nothing. You mean everything to the three little angels in the nursery. I want, no, I need for you to know how much I love you.” I want, no, I need for you to know how much I love you.” Dom rose lithely to his feet, lacing his fingers with Billy’s and pulling him to his feet as well. “We’re going to have a shower, and then we’re going to come back to bed and I’m going to hold you while you get some sleep.” Dom spoke softly as he gently caressed Billy’s stubbly cheek.

“Don’t deserve you.” Billy whispered, his voice thick, tears welling in his eyes.

Dom pulled him tightly against his body, enfolding Billy in his arms. “I don’t want to hear that anymore, my darling Billy, don’t you understand? You’re a man who would do this to himself just to keep his loved ones safe, my God, Bills, if there were more men like you, the world wouldn’t be the way it is now. I love you because of who you are. I love you because you’re such an incredible man. I’m the one that doesn’t deserve you. You’re my strong man, and you always will be.” He smiled shyly. “Just this once let me be the strong one, for you.”

Billy looked into Dom’s watery blue-gray eyes, the corners of his lips turning up slightly with the morsel of hope that flared in his heart at Dom’s words. His throat choked with emotional tears, Billy nodded.

Allowing himself to be towed through the bedroom, Billy stood passively and watched as Dom turned on the shower, pulled his tee shirt over his head, throwing it onto the hamper in the corner before returning to stand in front of Billy. Cupping Billy’s face in both hands, Dom pressed his lips to Billy’s and smiled. For the first time since he stepped into the bedroom today, Billy kissed him back. Pressing his forehead against Billy’s, Dom let his thumbs caress his cheekbones and eyelids before he pulled away. Trailing his fingertips across Billy’s bare chest, Dom unbuckled Billy’s belt and slowly released the buttons of his fly. Slipping his hands inside Billy’s jeans, Dom slipped them off his hips, sinking down to his knees to push the worn denim down Billy’s legs. Billy lifted one leg at a time as he stepped from the denim. Pressing a soft, open-mouthed kiss against Billy’s slightly furry belly, Dom slid his fingers under the waist band of Billy’s boxer briefs; he slid them down his legs.

Rising to his feet, he quickly stripped off his low slung jeans and laced his fingers through Billy’s pulling him slowly after him as he stepped backwards into the shower cubicle. As they stepped under the steaming spray of water, Dom folded his arms around Billy.

“Do you remember the first time we showered together in this house?” he whispered into Billy’s ear. “I thought my heart would burst I loved you so much that night, but now I know I was wrong. Since that first shower, every single day has made me love you a little bit more, because of you my heart had grown to know true, pure love that only you could give me.”

Dom’s fingers stroked through Billy’s hair gently, their bodies pressed together under the jets of water, willing him to realize how much he truly meant to him. Pulling away from Billy slowly, Dom lifted a tube of shower gel and squeezed it onto a wash cloth before turning back to Billy and washing him gently and tenderly. Dropping the washcloth to the floor when he was finished, Dom stood, his chest pressed against Billy’s back, one arm wrapped around his waist, the other reaching for their shampoo. Awkwardly squeezing a small amount into his hand then began to massage it through Billy’s hair.

“I can wash my own hair, Honey,” Billy spoke softly, his head tilted back against Dom’s shoulder.

“I know,” Dom answered quietly.

“You don’t need to do this,” Billy whispered, but he made no move to leave Dom’s tender ministrations.

“Yes, I do,” Dom murmured, “Maybe you wouldn’t feel as badly as you do if I had shown you. Maybe it’s got nothing to do with me at all, but I’ve let you down. You show me in a million ways every day how much you love me, I want to show you.”

“I’m the one that let you down. I’m a killer. I shouldn’t be here.” Billy’s eyes closed as he relaxed against Dom.

“This is your home and your family. You belong here with us. You are the best part of us.” Dom kissed the side of his neck, before he spoke again. “Besides, we’re not talking about that today. This is just you and me today, being in love and being together.”

Billy nodded his head slowly. Dom washed the shampoo from Billy’s head and leaned in and turned the spigots to turn off the water. Stepping out of the shower, he flicked a soft fluffy towel open and gently patted the excess water from Billy’s body before he wrapped the towel around his waist, lifting another towel he carefully toweled Billy’s hair almost dry, then leaned in to press his lips against Billy’s for another kiss, smiling against Billy’s lips as his hands lifted to rest on Dom’s bare hips, pulling them closer together. Regretfully dragging his lips from Billy’s, Dom looked into his face, his thumb tracing Billy’s lower lip.

“Come to bed with me?” he whispered, their mouths so close together that his breath feathered across Billy’s lips.

Nodding, Billy watched as Dom impatiently rubbed the water from his own body, then dropped the towel, his fingers moving to the knot on Billy’s towel pulling it free, the towel dropping to pool around Billy’s feet.

Lacing his fingers through Billy's again, he was reassured by the tight grip of Billy's hand as they walked through to their bed. Flicking the sheets back with a practiced hand, Dom ushered Billy between their sheets, crawling in behind him and pulling the bedclothes back over them, wrapping his arms around Billy, Dom looped a leg over Billy's and pressed his lips to his hair.

"Sleep Bills, let me hold you, take my strength tonight." Dom spoke against Billy's neck.

Turning in Dom's arms, Billy nodded, snuggling into his embrace, Billy pressed a soft kiss against Dom's chest as he slowly drifted off to sleep.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Standing in the corner of his room, David stared sightlessly out of the window as Orlando silently stood behind him, holding David for as long as he would let him. Orlando had tilted his head slightly so he could watch David out of the corner of his eye. The strain of the last few weeks was beginning to show on David's face.

Reaching a decision, Orlando pressed a gentle kiss against the side of David's neck, his hand sliding across David's shirt covered belly until he reached the heavy silver belt buckle at David's waist, slowly unfastening it.

"Orli?" David's voice questioned softly, one strong hand closing over Orlando's as he slid the belt from the denim loops that held it.

"It's alright, David, I don't expect anything to happen. I just want you to be comfortable." Orlando assured David softly.

"I can't….we can't….not anymore," David murmured, leaning his head back against Orlando and rubbed soothingly against Orlando's curls.

"We don't have to do anything David," Orlando said, turning his head until his lips were brushing against David's hair as he spoke. "I just want to hold you."

"I don't want you to," David shook his head. "I don't want you Orlando. I can't afford to. You're already too close."

"Why?" Orlando asked, "Because I care enough to be here for you? Or because you're frightened of what I make you feel, David?"

“Because I can’t do this….I won’t watch it destroy you. I can’t watch you wither away like that. I will not do that to you.” David pressed his forehead into Orlando’s curls and closed his eyes.

“Do what to me David?” Orlando frowned, his hand lifting to brush against the ginger stubble on his cheek. “Loving me can’t hurt me.”

“It can, it always does. Loving me will kill you Orli. I won’t let that happen.” He turned in Orlando’s arms and cupped Orlando’s face in his hands. “I can save you and I will. I won’t let you love me.”

“You don’t get a say in who I love,” Orlando explained slowly.

“Love killed my mother. it’s killing my brother. I watched it slowly eat my mother’s heart and soul. I won’t watch that happen to you,” David replied.

“Love is saving Billy, Dom will keep him whole, trust me, you’ll see.” Orlando murmured, pressing his forehead against David’s.

“I can’t do that again Orli. _We_ wont’ do this.” David watched his thumb stroke Orlando’s bottom lip as he spoke.

“You think love is painful and destroys,” Orlando whispered. “But I know the truth, Love is beautiful and pure and nurturing. Love makes every day more worthwhile.” As he spoke, his fingers slipped the buttons of David’s shirt open and pushed it off his shoulders. “Good and pure love makes your heart beat faster, it can mean the difference between survival and giving up hope. _I_ will make you understand that love is the most important thing you can ever have.” Orlando whispered as his fingers made short work of David’s button fly.

David closed his hand over Orlando’s. “We’re not doing this again Orlando. It’s the only way.” David stated.

“I told you, David,” Orlando sighed softly, his hands moving to comb through David’s hair as he spoke against David’s face. “Nothing is going to happen. I love you. I can see you’re hurting, and it breaks my heart. I just want to hold you and comfort you and take away your pain. Is that so wrong?”

“I’m sorry,” David murmured, his thumb brushing Orlando’s cheekbone.

“Don’t be sorry. Don’t ever be sorry about telling me how you feel.” Orlando pressed two fingers to David’s lips before he leaned in and pressed a chaste kiss against David’s cheek. Turning away from David, he pulled his tee shirt over his head and slipped his jeans down his legs, then crawled into David’s bed. Settling himself comfortably against the headboard, Orlando smiled shyly and opened his arms to his lover.

“Let me take away your pain, David, even if it’s just for now.” Orlando asked softly.

For long moments, David stood watching Orlando in his bed, his eyes closed slowly and he drew a deep breath before he slid under the sheet that Orlando held up, aligning his body against Orlando’s, his arms around Orli’s waist, his head nestled against Orlando’s smooth, golden chest. One hand lifting to toy with the silky russet ringlets behind Orlando’s ear, his eyes drifting slowly closed as the satiny locks wrapped around his fingers.

[ Chapter 24](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/6322.html)|  



	24. Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists <2/33>

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many apologies for it being late. I was staying with a friend and she didn't have net access and I couldn't even find a wireless network I could steal for long enough to post. Here is Friday's instalment. Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/).

_  
**Western Lovers: Cowboys & Biologists (24/33)**   
_   
  
[   
](http://photobucket.com)

**Title:** Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists  <2/33>  
 **Author:**[](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/profile)[ **sassywitch**](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/)  
 **Beta** the patient and talented [](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/profile)[**charlieisagirl**](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/)  
 **Pairing:** OB/DW  
 **Rating:** NC-17 for the series, and for this chapter.  
 **Summary:** David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.  
 **Feedback:** Feedback is my writers crack, which is not to be confused at all with plumbers crack.  
 **Disclaimer:** Not at all true in reality. These men whilst adorable and perfectly happy to slash themselves, their actual relationship is something that they only know. This story is adapted from a series of books that I adored when I was younger written by Elizabeth Lowell.  
 **Word Count:** 2189  
 **Previous Story:** Can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1656893.html)  
 **Previous Ordaisy chapter:** As suggested by [](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/profile)[**mystery_ink**](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/) can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1650642.html)  
 **Previous Chapters:** [ Chapter 1](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/353.html)|[ Chapter 2](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/597.html) |[ Chapter 3](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/910.html)|[ Chapter 4](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1032.html)|[ Chapter 5](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1359.html)|[ Chapter 6](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1630.html)|[ Chapter 7](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2014.html)|[ Chapter 8](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2254.html)|[ Chapter 9](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2332.html)|[ Chapter 10](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2625.html)|[ Chapter 11](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3070.html)|[ Chapter 12](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3269.html)|[ Chapter 13](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3428.html)|[ Chapter 14](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3585.html)|[ Chapter 15](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3915.html)|[ Chapter 16](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4160.html)|[ Chapter 17](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4474.html)|[ Chapter 18](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4844.html)|[ Chapter 19](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4918.html)|[ Chapter 20](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/5357.html)|[ Chapter 21](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/5428.html)|[ Chapter 22](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/5851.html)|[ Chapter 23](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/5952.html)

 **Posted to:** [](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/profile)[**fellowshippers**](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/) , [](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/profile)[**monaboyd**](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/) and [](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/profile)[**ordaisy**](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/)  
 **Header Art:** Courtesy of the incredibly talented [](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/profile)[**loki_girl**](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/).  
 **Author’s Notes:** Many apologies for it being late. I was staying with a friend and she didn't have net access and I couldn't even find a wireless network I could steal for long enough to post. Here is Friday's instalment. Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/).

 **Author's Notes 2:** This chapter to be polite, has _issues_. I can't find my edited version and I was already late posting. Since I had some requests for it I posted without realising it was the unedited version. Since some of you have already read and commented, I wouldn't like to take it down until i fix it as that will negate your kind words. But, if y'all can bear with me until I'm not quite so muddle-headed and can fix it, I'll leave it posted.

~*~*~*~*~*

David walked around the corner of Dom and Billy’s house to find his young lover, his brother-in-law and his nieces and nephew watching contractors completing the installation of a hot tub. Helping however he could, Viggo had organized for it to be installed when Craig’s therapy needs had been realized.

Orlando sat on the grass in the mottled shade of a tree, beside a quilted blanket, both babies lying beside him, feet kicking happily in the air, hands grabbing gleefully at Orlando’s fingers as he played with them. David’s breath caught in his throat at the image of his lover, chocolate curls shining in the sunlight, and his eyes crinkled at the corners as he laughed at the babies antics. Orlando's long legs stretched out in front of him, crossed at the ankles his boots kicked off and laying on the grass beside him.

Unbidden, an image of Orlando, holding their own tiny child filled David's mind. A tiny little cherub that would be nurtured by their love, just like all of the new generation of Double L children, cradled in his lovers arms. Shaking his head to clear the thoughts, unsure what was more disturbing to him, that the Double L was so firmly entrenched in his mind as home, or that it was so easy to see Orlando and their children in his mind, David turned his attention to the giggling girl stacking building blocks with Dom.

“Unca….Unca.” Daisy-May shrilled happily, climbing clumsily to her tiny feet and toddling unsteadily towards him, waving her arms above her head, nonsensical words spilling from her lips.

Bending down to swing her into his arms, David pressed a smacking kiss to her forehead, before he tickled her.

“Morning, Daisy.” Dom laid back on the fragrant grass and looked up at his brother-in-law with a tired grin.

“You look like shit,” David replied, bending to place the squirming toddler on Dom’s belly, ruffling Dom’s hair before he straightened.

“Sleep wasn’t exactly my priority last night.” Dom raised an eyebrow at David, is hands automatically lifting to wrap around Daisy-May’s waist and hold her upright as she leaned back against his thighs.

“How is he?” David asked almost nonchalantly as he dropped down to sit on the grass beside Orlando, close enough that their hips were touching. David tilted his head far enough to press a gentle kiss to Orlando’s lips, as Orlando turned his face to meet the anticipated affection.

Dom lay on the grass in front of them, his eyes shining as he watched, a smile turning up the corners of his lips.

“What?” Orlando asked. Seeing the expression on Dom’s face he frowned, wondering what Dom was amused by.

“You two. You’re so adorable I think it might make me ill.” Dom responded.

“Shut up, Dom.” Orlando blushed lightly, turning his attention back to the babies in an effort to deflect further examination.

“It’s beautiful.” Dom shrugged innocently.

“Leave it, Dom.” David replied before Orlando could defend them, “You didn’t answer. How’s Pip?”

“Sleeping.” Dom’s smile faded. “He was exhausted enough to not fight me.”

“Did he say anything?” David asked, wrapping one arm around Orlando’s waist and settling closer to him as Orlando lifted Lennox onto his lap.

Dom didn’t answer immediately. He lay back against the grass, his fingers stroking his daughters side absently as she sat on his belly. Shrugging his shoulders, he held Daisy-May against him and rolled onto his side, smiling as she giggled at the movement.

“He thinks he’s a killer. I don’t know how to fix him, Daisy.” Dom exhaled, as he pulled Daisy-May against himself. His fingers absently traced Daisy-May’s sleek black curls.

“I can’t help you there,” David replied. “I’ve never seen him like this before.”

“I don’t know what it takes to kill someone, but I know him, he wouldn’t have done it because he could, it would have been justified and I don’t give a fuck what any of you say. Billy would give his own life to defend his family. He’s a damned good man, why can’t I make him believe that.”

“You just need to give him some time.” Orlando suggested.

David pulled Orlando closer to him, his arm looped around his back, fingertips stroking his denim covered hip. Leaning in, David touched Lennox gently, his hand cupping the baby’s head, before Orlando smiled and passed Lennox to David to hold.

“I’ve got a suggestion for you.” David whispered, his fingertips tickling Lennox’s chest as he spoke. “We’ll look after the munchkins for you, why don’t you go and see if you can’t get some sleep. You obviously didn’t get enough last night.”

“Billy was restless.” Dom shrugged. “I didn’t want to sleep just in case he needed me.”

“He’ll be fine, Dom.” David reasoned. “It was probably more exhaustion than anything else.”

“No. It was more than exhaustion.” Dom disagreed. “There’s something really fucked up going on inside his head.”

“Then we’ll deal with the kids, you go get some rest.”

Kissing the top of Daisy-May’s head, Dom set her on the blanket beside the now sleeping Lana, before he rolled to his feet and stood.

“I’ll just be inside if you need me. Are you sure it’s okay?”

“Go. We’ll be fine. Get some sleep.” David almost laughed at Dom’s indecision. “Seriously. You look like shit, mate, go.”

Bending down, Dom ruffled both David’s and Orlando’s hair before turning and walking inside, yawning loudly.

  
~*~*~*~*~*~

Walking into their bedroom, Dom pulled his tee-shirt over his head and slipped his track pants down his legs. Sitting on the edge of the bed, his fingers trailed across Billy’s forehead, brushing the locks of bed tousled hair back. Pressing a gentle kiss to Billy’s soft skin, he watched as Billy’s eyes fluttered open, warm and sleepy, green as summer grasses. Even as he drowned in eyes filled with the boundless depths of Billy’s love and devotion, he watched the emotion drain away as the memories of his perceived moral misdemeanors flooded back.

“Don’t.” Dom whispered, his fingers pressing against Billy’s lips as he would have spoken. “Don’t think, Don’t. Not yet. Not today. It’s just you and me, Bills. Please. Hold me? Just us. There is no outside world. There’s just us in this room and this bed.”

“Honey,” Billy whispered, his tongue flicking out to brush wetly over Dom’s fingertips. “I don’t know what to do. I want to stay with you. I love you. I love the kids, but I did unspeakable things. I don’t deserve to live let alone be as happy as you make me.”

“Do I need to explain to you why we deserve you?” Dom leaned down to kiss him slowly, breathing his words against Billy’s parted lips. “Your guilt is what proves you’re not the man you think you are Billy. You’re a good man. You’re my husband, the papa to our children.” As his lips moved against Billy’s with every word he spoke, Dom’s hands roamed over Billy’s bare chest. “But most importantly, you’re my lover, the only man who had ever loved or made love with me and the only one who ever will.”

“I don’t deserve you.” Billy murmured as Dom rolled until his body fitted along the curve of Billy’s back, his long arms looped around Billy’s waist, lips kissing the back of Billy’s neck wetly.

“That’s crap.” Dom whispered, his warm breath sending involuntary shivers down Billy’s spine. His fingertips brushing across Billy’s bare belly and thighs as he spoke. “Do you know how many times I lay in this bed while you were gone and dreamed about touching you?” The back’s of Dom’s fingers brushed against Billy’s growing arousal as Dom’s lips found Billy’s earlobe, his words brushing across his ear with each breath. “How many times I lay in that very spot and touched myself, dreaming it was you.”

“Tell me?” Billy sighed, his hips pushing forward to silently beg for greater contact. Seeking the promise of Dom’s hands gripping his aroused flesh and stroking him, instead of the tips of his blunt fingernails dancing over his burning flesh teasing him.

“Every. Single. Night. Billy.” Dom’s voice whispered. “Every single night, I lay right there and wrapped my fingers around myself.” Dom let his fingers close around Billy’s heated flesh and stroked him slowly.

“Fast, or slow?” Billy groaned, his hips stuttering forward to push himself into Dom’s fist.

“If I was looking just for gratification,” Dom let his hand grip tighter, sliding along the now slick length, his hands mirroring the actions his voice provided. “It would have been fast and tight,” Dom’s hips fit against Billy’s back, his own erection pressed into the crease of Billy’s buttocks. “But that’s not what I wanted.”

“What did you want?” Billy breathed, turning his head to brush his lip across Dom’s wetly.

“I wanted to feel you with me. I wanted your hands on me. I wanted you to be inside me. I wanted to be inside you. I wanted everything with you, for you. I wanted you. I missed you so damn much with every minute of every day that every night I came to bed and waited. I waited until I was just at the edge of sleep, on that soft dreamy edge of consciousness where everything is real yet unreal, and I’d close my hand around myself and touch myself the way you touch me. My fist gripping tightly, stroking from root to tip, twisting a little roughly at the end of the stroke, just how you know I like it.” Dom's breath rasped against Billy's skin as his fingers mimicked his words.

“Oh, yes.” Billy sighed, his hips thrusting forward, pushing into the rhythmic touches.

“You know how much I like that don’t you?” Dom whispered against Billy’s neck, his lips and tongue trailing against Billy’s flushed skin. “The feel of your calloused fingers stroking me, your thumb flicking across the tip, your other hand reaching lower to touch me, to roll the skin in your hand even as you stroke me, stroke me so slowly, you nearly drive me mad.”

“Please, Honey.” Billy whimpered, “Don’t tease.”

“I’m not teasing you.” Dom murmured against Billy’s ear, his tongue flicking out to trace the shell of Billy’s ear, smiling as he felt the tremor that ran down his spine. “But I sure as hell teased myself, every single night you were gone.”

Pressing one knee between Billy’s legs, he lifted Billy’s thigh until it lay across his own. His own throbbing arousal rubbing against Billy’s entrance as he rocked his hips back against Dom, desperate for the completion Dom’s words and hands promised. Dom’s eyes closed as he struggled to maintain the slow easy rhythm across Billy’s hardness, his breath panting across Billy’s perspiration damp skin.

His head thrown back, one hand reaching back to hold Dom’s hip as he thrust desperately against him, Billy moaned brokenly. “Dom, please, close.”

Dom's fingertips brushed teasingly across Billy’s scrotum, before Dom tightened his grip on his slick arousal. Fingers stroking faster, gripping tighter, the twisting punctuation at the end of each stroke relentlessly tight, his thumb flicking across Billy’s leaking tip before starting the whole cycle over again.

Dom couldn’t hold back his own growl of frustration as Billy clenched his buttocks, squeezing Dom’s hardness, thrusting brokenly against him as Billy arched back desperately seeking the release that teased the edges of his consciousness.

Lifting his head, Billy twisted to press his lips wetly to Dom’s, his tongue sliding into Dom’s mouth, teasing and tasting as his hips thrust erratically back against Dom and forward into the tight, relentless grip of Dom’s fingers.

“Please, Honey,” Billy moaned against Dom’s lips. “Please.”

Tightening the insistent grip of his fingers, Dom stroked faster and faster, his hips undulating against Billy’s as his arousal rubbed between the taut globes of Billy’s buttocks.

Dom’s lips brushed against Billy’s neck. “Let go for me Billy. You need this. I need this.” He whispered.

His words had barely registered to Billy when his hand closed over Dom’s on his arousal and his release spurted across their fingers and onto the sheets. His body rocking against Dom’s with the force of his orgasm, Billy ground back onto Dom, wanting, needing to give Dom as much, more than he had taken from him. Yet even as he felt the wet pulses of Dom’s fluids between his buttocks, Billy’s eyes were already closing wearily, his arms pressing Dom’s tighter around him, safe and secure, if only while he slept.

As his breathing returned to normal, Dom lay against Billy, his head resting in the curve of his lover's shoulder, his breath warm on the lightly freckled skin under him and just absorbed Billy’s presence. His hand pressed flat against Billy’s chest, lying over Billy’s heart, content to feel it beating strongly against his palm, Dom reveled in the closeness he had missed so much. Gently pulling away Dom pulled the corner of the sheet towards them and cleaned their bodies as best as he could before he pulled the blanket from the foot of the bed over them and relaxed against Billy and followed him into a deep dreamless sleep.

[ Chapter 25](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/6685.html)|  



	25. Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists <25/34>

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/). I’m back, a little later than I intended but thanks to [](http://morebliss.livejournal.com/profile)[**morebliss**](http://morebliss.livejournal.com/) who graciously pinch hit with the betaing for me you can have Chapter 25 right now.

_  
**Western Lovers: Cowboys & Biologists (25/34)**   
_   
  
[   
](http://photobucket.com)

**Title:** Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists  <25/34>  
 **Author:**[](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/profile)[ **sassywitch**](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/)  
 **Beta** regularly by the patient and talented [](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/profile)[**charlieisagirl**](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/) but this chapter graciously made readable by [](http://morebliss.livejournal.com/profile)[**morebliss**](http://morebliss.livejournal.com/)  
 **Pairing:** OB/DW  
 **Rating:** NC-17 for the series, and for this chapter.  
 **Summary:** David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.  
 **Feedback:** Feedback is my writers crack, which is not to be confused at all with plumbers crack.  
 **Disclaimer:** Not at all true in reality. These men whilst adorable and perfectly happy to slash themselves, their actual relationship is something that they only know. This story is adapted from a series of books that I adored when I was younger written by Elizabeth Lowell.  
 **Word Count:** 2189  
 **Previous Story:** Can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1656893.html)  
 **Previous Ordaisy chapter:** As suggested by [](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/profile)[**mystery_ink**](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/) can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1650642.html)  
 **Previous Chapters:**  
[Chapter 1](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/353.html)|[Chapter 2](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/597.html) |[Chapter 3](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/910.html)|[Chapter 4](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1032.html)|[Chapter 5](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1359.html)|[Chapter 6](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1630.html)|[ Chapter 7](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2014.html)|[ Chapter 8](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2254.html)|[ Chapter 9](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2332.html)|[ Chapter 10](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2625.html)|[ Chapter 11](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3070.html)|[ Chapter 12](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3269.html)|[ Chapter 13](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3428.html)|[ Chapter 14](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3585.html)|[ Chapter 15](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3915.html)|[ Chapter 16](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4160.html)|[ Chapter 17](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4474.html)|[ Chapter 18](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4844.html)|[ Chapter 19](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4918.html)|[ Chapter 20](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/5357.html)|[ Chapter 21](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/5428.html)|[ Chapter 22](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/5851.html)|[ Chapter 23](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/5952.html)|[ Chapter 24](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/6322.html)

 **Posted to:** [](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/profile)[**fellowshippers**](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/) , [](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/profile)[**monaboyd**](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/) and [](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/profile)[**ordaisy**](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/)  
 **Header Art:** Courtesy of the incredibly talented [](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/profile)[**loki_girl**](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/).  
 **Author’s Notes:** Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/). I’m back, a little later than I intended but thanks to [](http://morebliss.livejournal.com/profile)[**morebliss**](http://morebliss.livejournal.com/) who graciously pinch hit with the betaing for me you can have Chapter 25 right now.

~*~*~*~*~*

Dropping the tailgate on the pickup, Orlando waited only long enough for Baby to jump down before he pushed it closed. Even as his hands worked with the mechanisms on the pick up, his eyes followed his lover. David stood at the long water trough outside the barn, tightening the cinch on the saddle lying across his horse’s back. David had resolutely refused even the most innocent of touches, flinching away from Orlando’s fingers when they touched over the meal table. It was becoming almost impossible not to react when David pulled away from him as if burnt. Every time it happened, hot sharp tears stung his dark eyes and he quickly averted his face before anyone could see how much David’s rejection hurt. But only in the shadows of night, when his own darkness was too much for him to bear, did he turn to Orlando and the warmth and comfort of his embrace.

It was almost laughable. Orlando had grown up in the wilds of the Alaskan wilderness with only his family for companionship, but since he had found the Double L these people had become his family. Where before his involvement with David the lonely days he spent at the cabin had been satisfying, now he found comfort and companionship everywhere he turned.

Turning his back on the scene before him, Orlando pulled his laptop case from the front seat of the truck and walked up the stairs towards Dom’s house.

“We’re a sorry pair aren’t we?” Dom’s gentle voice stated as he stepped through the door to greet Orlando, Daisy May balanced on his hip as she clamored to greet her friend Baby.

“I’ve no idea what you’re talking about.” Orlando murmured, unconsciously turning his head to watch David, talking to Billy as they lithely mounted their horses.

“You think I didn’t notice the touchy feely yesterday?” Dom raised an eyebrow at Orlando as he spoke, “Where did that come from?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Orlando replied.

“Yesterday. I’ve never seen him like that with anyone other than the kids.” Dom probed.

“Like what?” Orlando turned to face Dom, watching him closely.

“Affectionate. Touchy. Unwilling to take his eyes off you,” Dom shrugged.

“I don’t know.” Orlando answered, distracted by the image of his lover as he rode away behind his brother. “For two whole nights now we’ve slept in the same bed. In the same embrace even,” Orlando sighed, “That just doesn’t happen.”

“Is he talking to you yet?” Dom asked quietly, watching Orlando closely. Reaching out to stroke Orlando’s shoulder with one hand, he tried to offer whatever comfort he could .

Orlando shook his head in reply.

“Billy either. So I’m guessing if you’re not talking, you’re not _really_ touching either right?” Dom continued, his own attention distracted as he watched Billy reigning in his horse. Almost as if sensing Dom’s eyes on him, Billy turned, his gaze meeting Dom’s, his lips turning up into a slight smile before turning and riding off beside David.

Orlando turned to face Dom. “You too?”

“I don’t know how to reach him. He’s leaving tomorrow to bring Craig home, he won’t talk about anything with me. Is David going with him?”

“Not that he’s told me, but he doesn’t tell me anything.” Orlando shrugged. Pushing his laptop into Dom’s hand, Orlando lifted the squirming Daisy-May from her father’s arms.

“Any ideas how to reach them? Either of them?” Dom whispered as he sat on the top step, leaning the black case against the banister and watching indulgently as Orlando patiently showed Daisy-May how to play with Baby.

“I’ve tried everything I know. I have no idea, sometimes he’s his normal self, and then he remembers and seals back up again. Do you know what they did?” Orlando looked up at Dom, his long arm wrapped around Daisy-May’s waist as she rubbed her face against Baby’s neck.

“No more than we overheard, really. I don’t think we’ll ever know, they can be a close-mouthed pair of bastards when they want to be.” Dom leaned over to press a kiss against the giggling Daisy-May’s forehead.

“And that leaves us where?” Orlando sat back, comfortable with Daisy-May’s proximity to Baby, watching Dom’s face.

“Here, when they need us.” Dom shrugged and scooped Daisy-May up, walking inside.

~*~*~*~*~*~

At the top of a low ridge, Billy reined in his horse and tugged gently on the reins turned his horse back to face David. Watching as David’s horse picked its way up the incline; Billy lifted his hat off his head and wiped his brow, before pushing it back on his head and throwing his canteen to his brother.

“I’ve got a favor to ask.” Billy stated as David drank from it and threw the canteen back, then watched as his brother leaned forward and rubbed his horse’s neck affectionately.

“Babysitting, or something more challenging?” David asked quirking one ginger eyebrow at him.

“I’m going to pick Craig up tomorrow.” Billy explained. “I was thinking, you’re on the ground floor of the bunkhouse.”

“Your old rooms are still empty right?” David queried, pausing only until Billy nodded in response. “As soon as we get back tonight, I’ll move in to your rooms and make sure that everything is set up for him.”

“Are you sure?” Billy probed, pulling the reins as his horse spun around, and he turned in his saddle to look at David.

“No sweat. Your rooms are bigger anyway.” David shrugged, and then urged his horse forward and past Billy. “It’ll be fine.”

“You haven’t seen him Daisy, he’s not our Craig anymore, he’s so filled with pain and anger. He’s being eaten by his bitterness, I don’t know how it’ll ever be fine again. I don’t even know if it will be average. I always know how it will work out; I have no clue what to do or how to fix this.”

“You don’t always have to fix everything, Pip.” David replied.

“It’s what I do.” Billy shrugged, letting his horse fall into step behind David’s.

“Maybe you should just go with the flow for once. Stop being such a damned control freak.” David grinned as he responded.

“What’s that pot and kettle analogy I see there?” Billy couldn’t help but smile.

David turned in his saddle and looked intently at his brother. “Have you talked to Dom yet?”

“Of course I have.” Billy answered quickly, avoiding his brother’s gaze.

“Sure you have.” David’s horse stopped and he waited until Billy was passing him before reaching out and clasping Billy’s hand. “That would be why he’s still walking on eggshells around you.”

“That’s crap and you know it.” Billy growled and pulled away, walking his horse ahead of David’s again. “You’re hardly one to talk, have you told your biologist?”

“Stop fucking calling him that, he’s not mine and he has a name all of his own.” David snapped quickly, “And as a matter of fact, I have.”

“And?” Billy looked up into David’s face, searching for the answers he wanted.

“We’re okay.” David breathed softly, almost terrified that he was actually believing his words.

“We’re not….”

“Because you won’t fucking talk to him.” David cursed at Billy. “Dammit you didn’t have any issues with being all Dr Phil with Dom before you left, why not now.”

“You know what I did.” Billy stated flatly. “I don’t want him to look at me….”

“Differently?” David asked softly. “He won’t.”

“You can’t know that Daisy.” Billy replied. “He’ll be disgusted with me.”

“Yes I do.” David nodded. “He’ll understand.”

“And if he doesn’t I’ve lost everything. Absolutely everything. I can’t risk losing him or the kids.”

“So you’ll just shut him out so he leaves anyway.” David stated shortly.

“Well what the fuck do you want me to do?” Billy swung out of the saddle and moved forward, bending and running his hand down his horse’s front leg, lifting it against his knee and brushing his fingers across the hoof.

“I want you to have a little faith in the man that loves you and tell him what happened. You know as well as I do that he loves you, you need someone to talk to Pip, please tell him.”

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore.” Billy stated letting the horses hoof drop to the ground and swinging back into the saddle.

“Anything you say, ostrich.” David muttered under his breath and urged his horse along the trail.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Leaning against the bed with his back to the door, the laptop computer rested comfortably on his updrawn knees, a pair of black rimmed glasses resting on his nose, Orlando typed the beginning of his report about the Double L cats.

David paused at the open doorway, watching his lover silently. Orlando paused briefly in his typing, the cessation of his fingers flying across the compact keyboard as he lifted long fingers to ruffle his tousled curls before returning to their journey across the keyboard.

“Did you get everything done?” Orlando asked quietly.

“I’m sorry?” David questioned, startled by Orlando’s words.

“You’re not the only one with perception, David.” Orlando responded. “I knew you were there the moment you stepped onto the landing.”

“I didn’t mean to disturb you, I can go down to the main house for a while.” David offered.

“It’s your room, David,” Orlando explained as he closed the lid of his computer, “I’ll go so you can have some privacy.”

David’s brows drew together in a tight frown. “I don’t need privacy.”

Orlando surged lithely to his feet, pushing the laptop into its bag and zipped it closed. “It’s okay, I should probably go and see if Dom needs a hand with the kids anyway.

David walked across the room and closed his hands around Orlando’s upper arms.

“What’s wrong? What have I done?” David shook Orlando gently, trying to make him look up into his eyes.

“Nothing. You’ve done nothing David.” Orlando sighed. “Forget it. It’s me, not you.”

“I’m not buying that for an instant.” David replied. “I’m the fucked up one. You’re the most open, loving, together man I have ever met.”

Orlando stood looking down at his feet for a long tension filled minute. “David,” he began without looking up. “I wanted you to love me. I wanted us to be happy, but I can’t do it anymore.”

“Can’t do what?” David pushed a hand under Orlando’s chin and forced him to look up into his face.

Long fingers of fear clenched around David’s heart, his finger trembling as he waited for Orlando’s response.

“This,” the tears that had been gathering on Orlando’s lashes released their tenuous hold and trickled down his pale cheeks. “I can’t change you. And I don’t want you to be something you’re not just to make me happy.”

“What? When? Fairy tale boy, what the fuck are you talking about?” David shook his head, his thumb collecting the tears as they fell.

“Yesterday, I almost believed we were a normal couple.” Orlando whispered, his eyes searching David’s face, “But then I remember that until the other night, you wouldn’t sleep in the same room let alone with my arms wrapped around you. I don’t know why that has changed, but I don’t want to force you into something that you don’t want to be.”

“You really think _you_ could force me into anything?” David asked.

“You’ve had bad times lately, I’ve been pressuring you. I didn’t mean to.” Orlando took a deep breath. “I promised myself I wouldn’t use my feelings against you….” Orlando pulled out of David’s embrace and wrapping his arms around himself he stared sightlessly out the window.

David watched Orlando, saw his back trembling as he silently released his emotional tears, and wanted nothing more than to go to him and wrap him in loving arms. Even as the thought solidified in David’s mind he realized that that very act was part of Orlando’s quandary.

“Fairy tale boy,” David spoke softly as he pushed his hands into his jeans pockets and struggled with his emotions. “I’m going to have a shower, I’ll respect whatever decision you make, but I wouldn’t say no if you were to come too. If you’re gone when I’m finished, I’ll understand as well.”

Orlando listened to David walk across the room. Sinking down to sit on the edge of the bed, Orlando didn’t need to look to know that David had undressed and dropped his clothes on the white tile floor. He didn’t need to turn his head to hear the jets of steaming water spraying against the shower screen. He certainly didn’t need to see David’s lithe body as rivulets of water trickled down his tightly muscles back.

Flopping backwards on the bed, his arms flung above his head, Orlando lay there listening to David showering, struggling to convince himself that he could leave, right now, before he could turn his head the few inches that would reveal the steamy interior of the shower cubicle and David’s golden skin.

Before he could stop himself, Orlando tilted his head and watched. Damp steam billowed from the shower cubicle and filled the bathroom, softening the edges of the glass and chrome fixtures. Fog shimmering on the glass revealed tantalizing snatches of naked David as he stood under the water. His broad shoulders, made golden by the smattering of freckles and the soft bathroom lighting, tapered down to a slim waist and taut buttocks. The image made hazy by the steamy fog. Orlando’s fingers ached to follow the path of the rivulets of water that trailed down David’s spine.

Standing, Orlando pulled his tee-shirt over his head and walked slowly towards the bathroom. Leaning on the doorjamb, he watched David lathering shower gel across his shoulders, the frothy bubbles cascading down his spine.

As Orlando watched, without turning David pushed the shower door open. Stepping further under the spray, David continued his ablutions, his arms lifting to shampoo his hair.

His lips curling into a loose grin, Orlando unbuttoned his jeans as he walked towards the shower. The soft denim fell down his legs and was kicked from his feet without missing a step. Walking naked into the cubicle, Orlando let his fingers trail down the length of David’s spine, fingertips lingering on the groove at the base of his spine, brushing across the taut curve of his buttocks.

Trailing his fingertips up David’s sides and over his shoulders, Orlando pushed David’s hand away from the soapy bubbles amidst his tousled hair. Orlando’s long fingers massaged David’s scalp as he worked the froth through David’s short ginger hair.

“Tilt your head back.” He whispered against David’s ear as he pressed his aroused body along David’s back.

Sighing wearily, David let his head fall back against Orlando’s shoulder, his eyes closing as he turned his head towards Orlando’s.

“I didn’t know if you’d come,” David murmured, his lips brushing against his lover’s cheek.

“You wanted me,” Orlando replied, turning his head enough that his lips brushed across David’s as he spoke.

“Will always want you,” David answered, breathing the words into Orlando’s mouth. His tongue darted out from between his lips to trail across Orlando’s slowly.

Long fingers lifted to cup the back of David’s head and push him closer to Orlando’s mouth. Orlando’s lips opened hungrily, admitting David’s tongue, tasting him hungrily.

Swaying forward, his mouth open over David’s, his teeth lightly scraping across David’s questing tongue, Orlando leaned just enough for the steamy water to cascade over their heads. Rivulets of water and bubbles trailed over their entwined bodies, as they stood under the deluge, eyes closed and mouths devouring each other.

Breaking breathlessly away from Orlando’s ravenous kiss, David’s reached back with one hand to close his hand tightly over one slender hip. “Touch me, Orlando,” he whimpered, “Please.”

Orlando trailed his tongue across David’s stubbly chin, his fingers pushing tenderly trough David’s rinsed hair. “Come to bed with me, David.”

“Here.” David moaned as Orlando’s tongue swirled slickly across the shell of his ear.

Orlando smiled into the skin of David’s neck. Aligning his body fully against David’s back, Orlando bent his knees slightly and tilted his hips, pressing his insistent arousal against the crevice between David’s buttocks. The slick pressure drew a gasp from Orlando’s lips, his sharp teeth finding the skin of David’s throat.

Wrapping his arms around his lover, his fingertips plucking gently at the mat of soft hair that covered David’s torso, Orlando’s hips undulated against David’s back. Sliding his fingers across David’s chest, he pinched the small male nipples under his hands, before his fingers danced lower, lingering playfully at David’s navel, before moving lower.

As his wet fingers closed around David’s impressive arousal, David’s knees buckled and Orlando held him upright against his body. “Good?” Orlando smiled as his teeth nipped David’s shoulder.

“fucking amazing.” David gasped, his hips canting forward to lengthen Orlando’s touch.

Orlando’s other hand slid lower, cupping the taut sac beneath David’s arousal, long fingers fisted tightly, stroking slickly as the lukewarm water pounded against their skin. David’s arms slipped behind him, fingers tightly clasping Orlando’s hips, pulling him against his back squeezing Orlando’s arousal between his buttocks.

“ ‘S good David,” Orlando gasped, his hips pushing forward eager to prolong the friction.  
“Missed this,” David whispered, one hand lifting to push his fingers through Orlando’s wet curls.

His rhythm unchanged, Orlando’s fingers slid along David’s length as he pushed himself between the tight friction of David’s buttocks and lifted his lips to David’s ear. His tongue flicked out to swirl around David’s ear before he spoke.

“I want you inside me, David.” Orlando whispered.

Releasing his hold on Orlando’s hips, David tried to pull away from Orlando. “Come to bed?” he rasped quietly, his voice husky. One arm tightly wound around David’s waist, the other maintaining a steady rhythm of slick strokes on David’s arousal, Orlando caught David’s earlobe in his teeth and tugged it.

“Not so fast big boy,” Orlando whispered. “What’s wrong with here?”

“In bed, Fairytale Boy,” David gasped as Orlando’s thumb brushed repeatedly across the leaking tip of his arousal. “Better for you.”

“Anytime you touch me is good for me, warrior-mine,” Orlando moaned against David’s ear.

Releasing his hold on David, Orlando stepped in front of him. Taking David’s hands in his, Orlando lifted them to his shoulders and melted against David’s body. Their hips rocked in unison, rubbing their slick arousals together, eliciting a strangled moan from both of them.

“Flatterer,” David sighed against Orlando’s lips.

“What can I say?” Orlando grinned as he nibbled at David’s bottom lip. “You’re the best I’ve ever had.”

“I’m all you’ve ever had,” David whimpered, his thumbs tracing the soft skin behind Orlando’s ears as he tenderly held his neck. “Where’s your frame of reference?”

“Don’t’ need one.” Orlando replied, his tongue dancing wantonly with David’s “You’re all I want.”

“You’re easily pleased,” David murmured as he sealed his mouth over Orlando’s and kissed him hungrily.

“Not so much,” Orlando’s hands lifted to frame David’s face as he pulled back from the kiss to search David’s eyes. “I knew I’d found my life-mate that day in Helm’s Deep.” Orlando explained.

“You’re nuts, you know that?” David answered him, one hand tangling in Orlando’s wet hair, pulling him back into their kiss.

Long minutes passed, their hands framing faces tenderly, as their hips rocked hungrily. Moans and whimpers of need were swallowed under the curtain of cascading water, before Orlando pulled back. Eyes black with his passion, heart pumping a staccato beat, Orlando struggled to breath even as his husky words formed.

“I want you, David,” Orlando stated brokenly, each word punctuated by a hungry kiss.

“Come to bed,” David urged, his hands finding one of Orlando’s and tugging him off balance towards the door.

“No.” Orlando grabbed a tube of shower gel that hung from the faucet and pushed it into David’s hand, before he turned and pressed his hands against the white tile wall.

“I want you. Here. Now.” Orlando spoke, turning his head to look at David over his shoulder. Parting his feet, Orlando bent at the waist, his arms supporting him and his eyes were heavy with the lust that engulfed his body. “Please?”

David’s thumb flicked the shower gel open, and a thick glob of the viscous liquid filled his palm, coating his fingers as the tube fell to the floor, immediately forgotten. Eyes never leaving Orlando’s David’s fingers rubbed slickly between Orlando’s buttocks, one fingertip brushing against Orlando’s puckered opening.

“Do it David. Please.” Orlando begged his hips pushing back against the insistent pressure.

“Anything for you,” David breathed brokenly. “Anything.”

His index finger pushed gently past the tight ring of muscle. David waited for the briefest of moments before beginning a slow teasing rhythm that was guaranteed to drive his lover insane with desire.

“More.” Orlando pleaded, widening his stance and pushing back onto the intrusion.

“Like this?” David moaned, pressing a second finger inside Orlando’s body. David leaned over him and strung a trail of nipping kisses from Orlando’s shoulder to his neck.

Orlando whimpered and moaned desperate for more sensation, his body arching into every thrust of David’s fingers. When a third finger breached his entrance and David’s fingertips brushed across the spongy bundle of nerves inside him, Orlando threw back his head and wailed brokenly.

“Please David, Please. Fuck. Me.”

“you ready for me?” David struggled to speak aloud.

“Been ready for you since I was born.” Orlando growled.

Bending to lift the shower gel, David slicked his length quickly, biting his lip to stop the moan that bubbled to his lips at the pressure and slick friction against his arousal.

Pressing himself against Orlando’s prepared entrance, David slid slowly inside. Bending forward, David roughly grabbed Orlando’s hair and pulled them together for a hungry kiss, his hips pulling back slowly and pistoning back against Orlando’s buttocks.

“Sweet buggering fuck,” Orlando sighed, his hands flat on the wall, pushing him back into David’s thrusting. “David?” his voice trailed off brokenly as his back flexed and relaxed, his muscles rippling like a cats.

David’s fingertips traced feather light along the scar that extended down Orlando’s spine, his body stilling against his lovers, causing his muscles to tremble with desperation.

“Am I hurting you?” David murmured tenderly, his hips slowly pulling back as he reluctantly withdrew from his lover’s body.

“No!!” Orlando wailed, “Don’t leave me,” he pleaded. “Don’t ever leave me.” He whispered, barely audibly but David heard his words as clearly as if they had been screamed.

His voice choked by the lump of emotion in his throat, David responded the only way his body would allow. Hands caressing Orlando’s slender back lovingly, David’s body slid deep inside Orlando’s tight embrace again.

Pressing his chest to the wet tile wall, Orlando reached back, his fingers gripping tightly on David’s hip bones.

“So Good,” Orlando whispered against the tiles, his hands pulling David harder and faster against him. Each breath released a litany of requests for more. Harder. Deeper. Faster. Just more.

Hearing Orlando’s voice so broken with the lust they shared was David’s undoing. As Orlando’s body began to tighten around him, his hips canted back into David’s in short staccato bursts, and his head was thrown back wantonly, nonsensical words tumbled from his lips. David reached underneath Orlando to close his fingers around Orlando’s neglected arousal.

At the tight grip of David’s calloused fingers, Orlando’s voice was torn from his lips in a mewling wail of pleasure. As his climax pulsed over David’s rapidly stroking fingers and onto the slick, tile wall. His name was the only coherent word that David could understand as rambling lustful promises tumbled from Orlando’s lips.

The intense grip of Orlando’s climaxing body around his arousal and the knowledge of Orlando’s complete surrender to the pleasure that connected them was all that David needed. Two. Three. Four deep thrusts and David hurtled headlong into the abyss of completion towards where Orlando waited for him.

Struggling to hold them both upright, David gave in to the vertigo that engulfed him, and, slipping free of the tight sheath of Orlando’s body he sank to his knees pulling Orlando with him.

Wrapping his arms around Orlando’s waist, David pressed soft kisses across his nape as he fought to regain control of his breathing.

Lifting one hand, Orlando tenderly caressed David’s beard, fingers smoothing the sleek, wet pelt gently.

“Are you okay?” David asked huskily when he could speak again.

“Outstanding,” Orlando smiled, turning his head to press a short kiss to David’s lips. “Though the waters getting a bit chilly.”

One hand pressed against the wall, the other looped around Orlando’s waist, David pulled himself to his feet, lifting Orlando with him.

Reaching out to flick both spigots to off, David turned Orlando in his arms and wrapped him tightly in his arms.

“I won’t say it’s going to be easy, but I know the pleasure it gives you. I don’t want you to ever wake up alone again.” David whispered against Orlando’s hair.

Orlando frowned for a fraction of an instant, but sated and vulnerable after the intensity of their lovemaking, Orlando pressed his lips to David’s and kissed him tenderly.

“Then take me to bed, warrior.” Orlando whispered.

[ Chapter 26](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/7013.html)   



	26. Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists <26/34>

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/). I’m back, a little later than I intended but thanks to [](http://morebliss.livejournal.com/profile)[**morebliss**](http://morebliss.livejournal.com/) who graciously pinch hit with the betaing for me you can have Chapter 25 right now.

_  
**Western Lovers: Cowboys & Biologists (26/34)**   
_   
  
[   
](http://photobucket.com)

**Title:** Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists  <26/34>  
 **Author:**[](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/profile)[ **sassywitch**](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/)  
 **Beta** regularly by the patient and talented [](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/profile)[**charlieisagirl**](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/) but this chapter graciously made readable by [](http://morebliss.livejournal.com/profile)[**morebliss**](http://morebliss.livejournal.com/)  
 **Pairing:** OB/DW  
 **Rating:** NC-17 for the series, and for this chapter.  
 **Summary:** David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.  
 **Feedback:** Feedback is my writers crack, which is not to be confused at all with plumbers crack.  
 **Disclaimer:** Not at all true in reality. These men whilst adorable and perfectly happy to slash themselves, their actual relationship is something that they only know. This story is adapted from a series of books that I adored when I was younger written by Elizabeth Lowell.  
 **Word Count:** 2189  
 **Previous Story:** Can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1656893.html)  
 **Previous Ordaisy chapter:** As suggested by [](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/profile)[**mystery_ink**](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/) can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1650642.html)  
 **Previous Chapters:**  
[Chapter 1](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/353.html)|[Chapter 2](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/597.html) |[Chapter 3](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/910.html)|[Chapter 4](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1032.html)|[Chapter 5](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1359.html)|[Chapter 6](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1630.html)|[ Chapter 7](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2014.html)|[ Chapter 8](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2254.html)|[ Chapter 9](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2332.html)|[ Chapter 10](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2625.html)|[ Chapter 11](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3070.html)|[ Chapter 12](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3269.html)|[ Chapter 13](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3428.html)|[ Chapter 14](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3585.html)|[ Chapter 15](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3915.html)|[ Chapter 16](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4160.html)|[ Chapter 17](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4474.html)|[ Chapter 18](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4844.html)|[ Chapter 19](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4918.html)|[ Chapter 20](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/5357.html)|[ Chapter 21](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/5428.html)|[ Chapter 22](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/5851.html)|[ Chapter 23](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/5952.html)|[ Chapter 24](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/6322.html)|[ Chapter 25](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/6685.html)

 **Posted to:** [](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/profile)[**fellowshippers**](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/) , [](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/profile)[**monaboyd**](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/) and [](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/profile)[**ordaisy**](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/)  
 **Header Art:** Courtesy of the incredibly talented [](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/profile)[**loki_girl**](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/).  
 **Author’s Notes:** Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/). I’m back, a little later than I intended but thanks to [](http://morebliss.livejournal.com/profile)[**morebliss**](http://morebliss.livejournal.com/) who graciously pinch hit with the betaing for me you can have Chapter 25 right now.

~*~*~*~*~*

Billy sat in his armchair in the corner of the living room, his guitar resting across his knee, fingers plucking idly at the strings and toying with chords and notes that just seemed to fall together into a melodic rhythm for him. Dom sat cross legged on the plush rug in the centre of the room, baby Lana cradled in his arms, her eyes drooping sleepily. Lennox laid on his blanket in front of Dom, his hands batting gently at the toys suspended above him, Dom's free hand gently stroking his belly. Daisy-May, her tiny hands wrapped around her blankie, curled on the carpet in front of Billy, her onyx eyes watching him sleepily as she snuggled into the blanket.

Watching his family from beneath his lashes, a lump formed in Billy's throat, seeing the gentle affection Dom lavished on their babies, each touch, every softly murmured word filled with his love for their children. Even the thought of staying away from the Double L had been impossible for Billy. As he watched Dom interacting with their youngest, Billy couldn't help but notice Daisy-May crawling towards him, her well-loved, green blankie trailing after her.

Setting his guitar on it's stand beside his chair, Billy leaned down and swung the sleepy toddler into his arms. Pushing tousled ebony curls away from her forehead, Billy kissed her tenderly and let her weary head drop against his shoulder, her tiny hand lifting to stroke at the stubble that covered his chin.

"Love PapaBilly," she whispered.

"I love you too, Sugarplum." Tears welled in Billy's eyes as he spoke to his daughter, free hand patting her diaper clad bottom gently while her eyes drifted closed. "PapaBilly will always love you."

So completely focused on Daisy-May, Billy was visibly startled when Dom's hand came to rest on the top of his head.

"Bills, can you watch Lennox for me while I put Lana to bed?" he murmured against Billy's temple, leaning in to press a soft kiss there.

Billy glanced across the room at their sleeping son and nodded slowly. "When the kids are in bed, Honey, we need to talk."

Dom stood straighter, his shoulders suddenly taut and tension stiffening his spine, his hold on Lana tightening. "That sounds ominous, Bills," he managed to force out casually, a tight fist of fear clenching around his heart as he heard Billy's request and risked a glance at Billy's face.

"It's not so bad, Honey," Billy murmured, his lips pressed against Daisy-May's curls as he spoke. "Honestly," he reassured Dom, pointedly watching Daisy-May so he couldn't see the pain and confusion that he could hear in Dom's voice, unable to control the fine tremor in his fingers as he ran his fingers through his daughter's hair.

"Then hold that thought," Dom whispered, his eyes glistening, his fingertips nervously smoothing Lana's strawberry blonde locks. "I'll be back in a flash."

"Take your time, Dommie," Billy murmured. "Honestly, Honey, it's not so serious."

"Then I should bring wine or whisky?" Dom tossed over his shoulder casually as he walked towards the door.

"Just you is enough, Honey," Billy whispered as he smiled shyly, lips pressed against Daisy-May's hair.

"I'll hold you to that." Dom mumbled, walking out of the room and quickly depositing their youngest daughter into her crib, stroking her back gently as she stirred when he released her. Walking back into the living room to collect their son, Dom paused in the doorway as Billy slipped out of the room, Daisy-May cradled tightly in his arms.

By the time Dom entered the nursery, Daisy-May was sleeping soundly in her little bed and Billy was nowhere to be seen. Quickly settling Lennox in his crib, Dom steeled himself with a deep breath and went in search of his lover.

Walking slowly through the dimly lit house, a baby monitor in his back pocket, Dom found Billy sitting on their back porch steps, his head tilted forward, elbows resting on his denim clad thighs, strong hands clenched tightly together. Dom stood at the screen door, his face pressed against the wire mesh, content just to watch his Billy.

"I know you're there, Honey," Billy murmured softly, not turning his head.

"Are you alright?" Dom asked quietly, stepping through the door and moving to sit beside Billy on the top step.  
One small, strong hand stretched across the gap between them, and Billy's fingers trailed across Dom's palm, lacing themselves through Dom's fingers, clinging tightly. Dom's heart swelled at the contact. This was the first time since his return that Billy had initiated intimate touching without already being emotionally overwrought. Clasping Billy's hand, Dom's thumb trailed across Billy's knuckles, waiting as patiently as he could for Billy to speak.

"You deserve to know exactly what I did, Honey," Billy murmured, his chin pressed against his chest, eyes fixed on his bare toes.

"You don't need to tell me," Dom protested quickly.

"You should know, Dommie," Billy sighed. "You deserve to know what type of man I am. You deserve to know what I'm capable of."

Pulling his hand from Billy's, Dom rocked forward onto his knees and shuffled in front of Billy, pressing one hand under Billy's chin to tilt his face up to look into his eyes.

"I don't want you to feel you have to tell me anything, Bills," Dom explained. "I don't need you to tell me what you're capable of. I know. I've seen both sides of you, or have you forgotten? Remember the pot hunters and even Serkis on the day we met? I remember that Billy, but I will never forget the way you treated Nosy, the way you loved Daisy-May without reservation, or the way you kissed me without expectation when I asked you to. You have so much power and strength, but you have even more compassion and love."

"I murdered a man in cold blood, Dommie. I knew I was doing wrong, but I couldn't stop myself. I couldn't stop myself from pulling the trigger. I wanted him to suffer the way he made Craig suffer. I actually regretted not killing him slowly so I could prolong his pain." Billy's eyes glistened with emotion as he struggled to explain himself to his lover. "I can't guarantee that I won't lose it like that again. I can't trust myself to be around good people."

"Do you trust me?" Dom asked softly, his thumb tracing Billy's cheekbone as he spoke.

"I know what you're going to say, Dommie. I can't trust you to put aside your love and see the real me."

"I asked you a question, Bills," Dom stated.

"Of course I trust you. I trust you with my life. I trust you to raise our children into the beautiful people they will be, but I can't let myself trust you to protect yourself at any cost against me."  
"I'm only going to say this once, Bills. I trust you. Implicitly. I know you. I'm starting to think I know you better than you know yourself. You would never hurt me, and you would never hurt the kids. I know you and I know that as certainly as I know that I love you."

"You have far too much faith in me," Billy growled, his voice thick with emotion.

"I know that you are a far better man than you think you are," Dom whispered, leaning forward to press his lips against Billy's.

"I know you deserve far better than I have to give you," Billy replied against Dom's mouth.

"We'll see," Dom murmured, his tongue flicking across Billy's bottom lip. "I think we should take it one step at a time."  
"Step?" Billy repeated, his trembling hand lifting to brush through Dom's tousled blond hair.

"Steps." Dom nodded, smiling cheekily. "First step? We're going to christen the hot tub."

"Dommie?" Billy sighed against Dom's mouth. "Are you sure?"

"Me? Sure?" Dom breathed into Billy's mouth as he strung kisses across his lips. "You're damned lucky I didn't ravish you on the steps when you got home." He cupped Billy's face in both hands and kissed him gently before pulling back to speak huskily. "I think I've shown admirable restraint."

Long fingers trailed down Billy's throat and lower, slowly slipping the buttons of Billy's shirt open. Hands slid under the fabric and pushed the shirt down Billy's arms, fingertips tracing the warm skin  
gently. Finally rising to his feet, Dom stood on the bottom step, his hands extended to Billy shyly.

"Your choice, Bills," Dom whispered. "I love you, I want you. I need you in my life forever."  
Billy sat on the stairs, his heaving chest bare, shirt hanging by its tail from the back of his jeans, glistening green eyes watching his lover closely.

"Dommie, if we do this," Billy traced the neckline of Dom's tee-shirt slowly, his eyes following the path of his fingertips as he spoke. "I'm not sure I'm strong enough to walk away."

"You mean all I need to do," Dom murmured, leaning forward to trail his lips across Billy's face in slow wet kisses. "Is to love you, just the way I want to?"

"You really don't want me to stay, Honey." Billy shook his head sadly, his hands moving to the bottom of Dom's tee-shirt and drawing it up.

"At the moment, Bills, you could be Ted fucking Bundy and I wouldn't care. Just love me?" Dom whimpered.

" S'what I mean, Dom. You're not thinking objectively," Billy explained, his tongue finding Dom's nipples and licking them slowly.

"I am," Dom breathed. Pulling away from his lover, Dom unbuttoned his jeans, one tantalizing button at a time. Taking the monitor from his back pocket, Dom stood it on the porch step before pushing his jeans down his legs, kicked free of them and moved purposefully toward the spa, never breaking Billy’s gaze until he stepped naked into the bubbling water.

Standing in the bubbling water Dom waited for his lover. Billy walked slowly, his small hands clenched into tight fists in his pockets, his head downcast. Hesitantly climbing the steps, he stood at the edge of the tub, ashamed to absorb Dom’s loving acceptance but afraid to do what could only be best for Dom and walk away.

Watching Billy’s emotional struggles, Dom lifted both hands to rest on Billy’s hips, his thumbs tracing the pale skin beneath the loose denim.

“You’re playing with fire, Dom.” Billy whispered, tilting his face to look at Dom, his fingers stroking through the tousled blond hair at his nape. “I don’t want you to be burned.”

“Too late for that, Bills,” Dom whispered as he stood on the seating ledge and leaned in pressing his lips against Billy’s chest, kissing the skin over his heart softly. “I was burned the moment you first looked at me. The flames we make are special, Billy, please don’t sacrifice us all because you have me on a pedestal. I don’t fucking deserve to be on it.”

“I have to, Dommie,” Billy’s fingers laced through Dom’s hair, his chest shaking as he clung to his shredding control. “I know how broken you were when I first met you. I can’t hurt you the same way he did, I won’t break you like that. I can’t survive knowing I’ve done that to you”

Dom wrapped his wet arms around Billy’s waist and pressed himself along Billy’s legs, his lips stringing wet kisses across Billy’s skin. “You’re nothing like that asshole. You put me back together, Bills.” Dom sighed.

“I love you, Dom,” Billy whispered. “It would kill me to hurt you like that.”

“Can’t you see, you beautiful man, you’re hurting yourself, not me.” Dom pulled back and let his hands trail across Billy’s trembling belly.

“I’ll survive.” Billy answered flatly, his fingers slowly tracing up and down Dom’s spine.

“I won’t.” Dom murmured, looking up into Billy’s face, his smoky blue eyes liquid with unshed tears. “I want you, Bills.”

“I never could refuse you.” Billy sighed as Dom’s long fingers shakily unbuttoned his jeans.

“Good.” Dom grinned, his hands pushing Billy’s jeans and boxer shorts down his legs. “Kiss me.”

Billy kicked free of his jeans and stepped into the warm bubbling water, his trembling hands cupped Dom’s face. Kissing Dom tenderly, Billy pushed him to sit down before straddling his lap, his knees framing Dom’s hips under the water.

“Like that?” Billy rasped as he pulled away, one hnad slipping under the water to brush across Dom’s nipple.

“’sanice start.” Dom moaned, his fingers slipping around the back of Billy’s head, pulling him back to trace Billy’s lips with the tip of his tongue.

“Didn’t mean to hurt you, Dom.” Billy apologized, his lips trailing across Dom’s neck, dipping just below the water level to nip at Dom’s nipples.

“Don’t Bills.” Dom shook his head, barely able to concentrate as Billy’s hand closed around his erection and stroked slowly. “Not alone anymore.”

Billy lifted his hands to cup Dom’s face, kissing him wetly. “I love you.” Billy whispered before sliding down Dom’s body and under the water.

As he felt Billy’s mouth open around his arousal under the swirling water, Dom threw his head back wantonly, his hips arching up towards the tight, wet cavern of Billy’s mouth. One hand plunged under the water to cup the back of Billy’s head, pushing him down tighter against him for a moment of mind blowing, intense blissful suction that curled his toes and rolled his eyes back in his head, before both hands grabbed for Billy’s shoulders and pulled him back above the water.

“Fuck, Billy are you trying to kill me.” Dom sighed, pulling Billy against his body. Wrapping his legs around Billy’s hips, Dom rubbed himself urgently into Billy.

“Need you to know.” Billy murmured as he nibbled at Dom’s neck, his fingers trailing down Dom’s sides.

“That you love me?” Dom whispered, his fingers tangling in Billy’s short hair. “Already know. That we’re meant? I know that too.” Dom’s hand stilled on the back of Billy’s head as he slid down his body again and asked softly. “Where are you going?”

“I need to please you, Honey.” Billy replied, lifting one hand he cupped Dom’s face and kissed him slowly, then slid back under the water again.

A frown creasing his brow, Dom slid his hands under Billy’s arms and pulled him back above water level.  
“Just having you here with me is almost more pleasure than I can bear, you silly git.” Standing in the water and pulling Billy against him, Dom wrapped his arms around Billy’s waist and kissed him tenderly.

“Jesus, Bills,” Dom sighed against Billy’s mouth. “As much as I’d love an underwater blowjob, I need you more. Need to see your face, feel you and hear you.”

“You deserve all I can give you.” Billy answered, pushing against Dom’s shoulders, trying to force him back onto the seat.

“Not this time, big boy.” Dom smiled against Billy’s forehead, pushing him backwards until he fell onto the seat, then moved to straddle him. Hands holding the edge of the tub either side of Billy’s shoulders, Dom’s knees framing Billy’s hips he writhed against his lover wantonly. His neck outstretched, his head tilted back, mouth open wide as he whimpered desperately, Dom’s hand dove under the water and his long fingers wrapped around their arousal’s and tugged urgently.

“Honey, I’m….” Billy’s words trailed off as Dom leaned down and closed his lips over the smooth skin of Billy’s neck.

“Never going to leave me again?” Dom whispered against his ear, tongue tracing the soft shell of flesh tenderly, as his hand closed over Billy’s and dragged it down to rest on the lush curve of his buttock.

“Honey?” Billy murmured, his hips thrusting up into the tight clasp of Dom’s fist. The friction of Dom’s fingers and the pressure of Dom’s arousal against his own was driving him wild with pleasure.

“I want you inside me, Bills. Deep. Hard. Fast.” Dom growled against Billy’s ear as he felt Billy’s finger brushing across his entrance. “Please?” his husky growl rising in pitch as the slender digit penetrated his body and he thrust down onto it wildly. “Just like that,” Dom sighed.

“I can’t do this and walk away,” Billy whimpered as he pressed a second finger into Dom’s body.

“Then let. Me. Help,” Dom moaned. Pushing Billy’s hand away, Dom shifted, positioning Billy against his entrance and sliding down onto him slowly. Closing his eyes at the slow burn of the deliberate intrusion, he settled against Billy’s body. Lacing his fingers in Billy’s he held their arms out to the side on the edge of the decking. “Decision made?”

“Was no decision,” Billy groaned, trembling with the need to thrust up into the tight clench of Dom’s body, his head resting against the decking, teeth pressed into his lip in his struggle to stay in control. “I could never leave.”

“Good,” Dom whispered into Billy’s ear and began to move, slowly rising and falling in long, hungry thrusts. “We’d follow you wherever you went,” Dom stated quietly. “Anywhere.”

Dom pressed their bodies together, his own burning arousal grinding between their bellies, gently abraded by the soft pelt of ginger hair on Billy’s belly, their nipples brushing against each other with each deep, undulating thrust.

“So good, Dommie,” Billy sighed. Lifting his head, his teeth found Dom’s ear lobe, and nibbled hungrily.  
Pulling one of Billy’s arms between them, Dom wrapped their entwined hands around his arousal and began a punishing rhythm, stroking himself desperately. Taking his weight on his knees, his muscles screaming with the strain, Dom thrust wildly onto Billy’s body. His free hand found Billy’s face and stroked the stubbled skin tenderly. Leaning down, Dom caught Billy’s bottom lip in his teeth and tugged gently before moving forward to kiss the tormented skin wetly.

“Better than good,” Dom growled. His body slammed against Billy’s, neither noticing that the water sloshing around them splashed over the edge of the tub. Dom’s lips trailed across Billy’s neck and shoulder, stringing nipping kisses all over the tender skin. Releasing his hold on Billy’s hands, Dom captured his face in both of his hands, his thumbs tracing Billy’s cheekbones as he kissed him hungrily.

Finally able to touch Dom properly, Billy closed his hand around Dom’s arousal and stroked tightly, his thumb tracing the sensitive tip with every stroke, his other hand clasping Dom’s hip tightly, pulling him down toward his body as his hips slammed up into Dom. “So close, Honey,” Billy whimpered, pulling his mouth away from Dom’s.

Pressing his face against Billy’s ear, Dom let his tongue trace the soft shell as his body continued to slam down onto Billy. “Let go, wanna feel you,” Dom murmured. “Deep inside me, filling me. Come for me Bills.”

With every one of Dom’s words, Billy’s control unraveled. Both of his hands fell to Dom’s hips, pulling him down against him as he slammed up into Dom’s body. Trembling with the force of his arousal, Billy threw his head back, hitting it harshly against the boards of the decking as he found his release deep inside Dom’s body.

Feeling the pulsing of Billy’s release spilling inside him, and sensing him relaxing bonelessly underneath him, Dom wrapped his long fingers around his arousal and fisted it, fast and hard in a tight, almost punishing grip. His head fell against Billy’s shoulder, and he inhaled the scent of his husband deeply as he climaxed and collapsed against Billy’s body, his release floating away on the water around them.

One hand lifted to brush across the back of Billy’s skull, feeling for the knot caused by the cracking blow against the deck. Dom lethargically lifted his head to look into Billy’s face, searching for the answers his heart needed to hear.

“Are we good?” Dom asked softly, scarcely daring to breathe as he waited for Billy’s answer.

Billy swallowed convulsively, his eyes glistening as he watched Dom carefully, his brow furrowed into a tight frown. His eyes dropped closed and his head tilted in a barely noticeable nod. “I think we will be.”

  
[ Chapter 27](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/7327.html)


	27. Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists <27/34>

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/).

_**Western Lovers: Cowboys & Biologists (27/34)**_  
 **Title:** Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists  <27/34>  
 **Author:**[](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/profile)[ **sassywitch**](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/)  
 **Beta** regularly by the patient and talented [](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/profile)[**charlieisagirl**](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/)  
 **Pairing:** OB/DW  
 **Rating:** NC-17 for the series, and for this chapter.  
 **Summary:** David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.  
 **Feedback:** Feedback is my writers crack, which is not to be confused at all with plumbers crack.  
 **Disclaimer:** Not at all true in reality. These men whilst adorable and perfectly happy to slash themselves, their actual relationship is something that they only know. This story is adapted from a series of books that I adored when I was younger written by Elizabeth Lowell.  
 **Word Count:** 2189  
 **Previous Story:** Can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1656893.html)  
 **Previous Ordaisy chapter:** As suggested by [](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/profile)[**mystery_ink**](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/) can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1650642.html)  
 **Previous Chapters:**  
[Chapter 1](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/353.html)|[Chapter 2](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/597.html) |[Chapter 3](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/910.html)|[Chapter 4](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1032.html)|[Chapter 5](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1359.html)|[Chapter 6](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1630.html)|[ Chapter 7](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2014.html)|[ Chapter 8](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2254.html)|[ Chapter 9](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2332.html)|[ Chapter 10](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2625.html)|[ Chapter 11](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3070.html)|[ Chapter 12](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3269.html)|[ Chapter 13](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3428.html)|[ Chapter 14](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3585.html)|[ Chapter 15](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3915.html)|[ Chapter 16](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4160.html)|[ Chapter 17](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4474.html)|[ Chapter 18](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4844.html)|[ Chapter 19](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4918.html)|[ Chapter 20](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/5357.html)|[ Chapter 21](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/5428.html)|[ Chapter 22](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/5851.html)|[ Chapter 23](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/5952.html)|[ Chapter 24](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/6322.html)|[ Chapter 25](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/6685.html)|[ Chapter 26](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/7013.html)

 **Posted to:** [](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/profile)[**fellowshippers**](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/) , [](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/profile)[**monaboyd**](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/) and [](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/profile)[**ordaisy**](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/)  
 **Header Art:** Courtesy of the incredibly talented [](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/profile)[**loki_girl**](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/).  
 **Author’s Notes:** Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/).

~*~*~*~*~*

Billy slid out of the car quickly and moved around to the passenger side. His passenger was tired, anxious and more than a little fractious. That was part of the reason why Billy had decided to make this journey at night, under cover of darkness and away from curious eyes.

Craig sat in the front seat, the heel of his hand pushing aggressively at the stabbing pain in his thigh. Each jarring movement of the car as it traversed the unpaved roadway into the ranch was like a knife twisting in the tortured tissue that had once been a strongly muscled thigh. His thigh. He couldn’t even probe the muscle with his fingers, the bone and ligament damage to both of his hands had stolen the fine motor skills he required even to live without help. His teeth clenched tightly together, grinding them as he tried desperately to swallow the anger that threatened to overwhelm him.

He glanced at Billy as he opened the door for his brother. He tried to push aside the unreasonable rage at Billy’s attentive care. He tried desperately to stop the erroneous feelings that Billy was the reason why he was in so much pain, but sometimes, when the pain and frustration consumed him he couldn’t help it. In the time between his medications, when the pain overwhelmed the medication and there wasn’t a part of his body that wasn’t consumed with the need to escape the blinding agony that was his body, he blamed his brothers for it all. He had followed them into the military, which truthfully was his choice not theirs. Billy had fought him long and hard about it, the military was the last thing Billy had wanted for his baby brother. When he had been captured and tortured Craig had been happy to let go. But they wouldn’t let him go. They had followed him and found him and forced their own strength onto him. In the hazy days after his rescue there had been one constant. Billy. If Billy had just let him go the pain spearing through him now wouldn’t be an issue.

“Do you need a hand, Craig?” Billy asked softly, his hand reaching out to close over Craig’s shoulder.

“Don’t touch me!” Craig hissed sharply, instantly regretting his outburst as he watched Billy immediately step back his hand’s plunged into his jeans pockets.

Billy squatted down beside the car, looking up into Craig’s face. “Craig?” he murmured quietly, “I know this is hard, I know that you hurt. But the sooner we can get you settled in your room, the sooner we can give you more painkillers.”

“Just fuck off.” Craig muttered darkly. Closing his eyes, he gripped either side of his thigh and lifted his leg, drawing in a sharp breath as he swiveled in the seat, pushing himself until both feet were on the ground.

“Let me help you, Craig.” Billy spoke softly, the accent he had never lost thickening his voice, his nails digging into his palms as he struggled not to reach out and help his baby brother.

“Fuck off, Billy.” Craig whispered. “I don’t need any help to get out of a fucking car. If you really wanted to help me, you should have fucking left me in that godforsaken pit.”

“You don’t mean that.” Billy stood, his eyes wide with disbelief.

“Like hell I don’t. This is all your fault. If you’d just let me die, I wouldn’t be fucking suffering now. Do you know what it’s like, not being able to stand on your own, I can’t even button my own fucking shirts or zip my pants. You will never know. I just want to die. Why the hell didn’t you let me?” Hot sharp tears burnt at Craig’s eyes as he struggled against the remorseless pain and the anger that was searing through him.

“Let me,” Daisy clasped Billy’s shoulder as he stepped up behind his brother. “Sugarplum wouldn’t sleep, Dom could probably use a hand, and I’m sure Craig and I can handle getting him moved in. Can’t we bro?”

“Whatever.” Craig whispered through tightly clenched teeth.

“Are you sure?” Billy frowned.

“Absolutely.” David nodded, “We’ll be fine, go.”

Billy stood watching as David kneeled in front of Craig, speaking softly to him. Craig silently acquiesced to David’s firm ministrations. Once he had assured himself that David and Craig were coping, he turned on his heel and walked down the hill to his own home, his shoulders slumped and his head bowed.

~*~*~*~*~*~

“That wasn’t fair, Craig.” David murmured softly as he reached into the car and extracted Craig’s cane, waiting patiently for Craig to gather the strength to stand.

“I know.” Craig replied.

“He did what he did because he loves you.” David explained.

“David!” Craig snarled at him as he slowly pulled himself to his feet, his eyes squeezed tightly closed as stars swum before his eyes. “I know why he did it, that doesn’t fucking change the fact that I wish he didn’t. Just drop it okay.”

“Don’t burn your bridges little brother.” David pressed the cane into Craig’s hand and stood beside him.

“What bridges, I’m fucking blessed just to be here aren’t I. The doctors keep telling me so.”

“It’s been six weeks Craig, give it time.” David reassured him, a large warm hand pressed against his back.

“Six weeks. Six. Weeks. Let me tell you about it. I need to be walking, moving. Being myself. Doing what I have always done.” Craig waved his cane into the air, wobbling as he struggled to stay upright. “I can’t even take myself to the fucking toilet Daisy.” He stopped mid tirade, “I don’t want to do this anymore Daisy. I won’t be dependent on anybody. I’m a man David, not a child, none of you can fucking see that.”

“You have to give it time Craig. We’re thankful to still have you.” David stroked Craig’s back gently, struggling not to reach for him as he shrugged away from David’s touch.

“I’ve already given it six weeks David. I can’t do this. I hurt, Daisy. I can’t do the simplest of things. I can’t dress myself, I can barely feed myself. This isn’t the life I want, this is hell.” Craig surged forward, shuffling towards the open door in front of him, leaning heavily on his cane.

David waited at the side of the car, his hands jammed in his pockets, worry for his baby brother creasing his brow. Watching as Craig struggled through the door of his new home, David waited giving Craig the few minutes he obviously needed to assert his independence.

Seeing Craig sitting on the edge of the bed, David moved closer.

“That wasn’t so bad was it?” David asked cheerily.

“obviously not from your side.” Craig growled, his fist grinding into the sharp, throbbing pain in his thigh. “I want painkillers Daisy, and I want them now.”

“That’s not the way to get them, little buddy.” David sighed.

“I need them Daisy.” Craig looked up into David’s face, tears clinging to his lashes, unable to conceal his pain any longer.

“You get changed and into bed and I’ll get them from Billy.” David offered, his heart breaking at his brother’s suffering.

“I can’t.” Craig whispered through clenched teeth.

“Can’t?” David murmured, confused.

“I told you outside.” Craig grated out, unwilling to put words to his weaknesses.

“I missed it Craig, you’ll have to tell me again.” David apologized.

“Don’t make me say it again Daisy, please.” Craig begged him.

“It’s just me, little buddy, you don’t need to be embarrassed.” David assured him.

“I can’t change my own clothes. I can’t climb into bed on my own. I can’t even take my own fucking shoes off. Do you get it now?”

David knelt in front of Craig and unlaced his sneakers. Shoes off and tucked safely under the bed, David pulled Craig’s socks off before he stood in front of him and unbuttoned Craig’s shirt and unzipped his pants.

David could feel the tension in Craig’s body as he carefully undressed him. “There’s no need to be embarrassed Craig.”

“I haven’t had to have someone undress me since I was a toddler Daisy. I can’t do this.”

“You can and you will.” David sat beside him on the bed and wrapped an arm around his waist. “This won’t last, you’ll get stronger and you’ll adjust.”

“You have more faith than I do.” Craig sighed, as he struggled to stand and let his jeans drop to his ankles. As he dropped back down onto the bed, a groan of deep pain and suffering squeezed from between his lips. David pulled Craig’s shirt from his trembling arms and waited long enough for Craig to regain his breath, his lips pinched, and his eyes glistening with tears he refused to shed.

Standing in front of Craig he carefully lifted him to his feet and flicked the blankets on the bed back. Wordlessly he settled Craig back onto the clean sheets. Slowly he bent and lifted Craig’s legs onto the bed, wincing at the angry, red, barely healed scars that crisscrossed Craig’s legs. Waiting briefly for him to settle back against his pillows, David pulled the sheet back up to cover Craig’s legs.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can.” David stated as he walked towards the door, Craig’s silence bothering him more than he cared to admit.

Closing the door behind him, he came face to face with Liv’s brother.

“What do you want?” David asked him shortly.

“To help Craig.” Sean replied softly.

“He’s fine, Billy and I can handle it.”

“Certainly sounded like it.” Sean’s answered sarcastically, “Why don’t you let me talk to him, it can’t hurt.”

“Why should I?” David snarled, more than happy to take his temper out on the older man.

“Because this is hurting you as much as it’s hurting him, I’ve been where he is before, you have no idea what to do for him and it might just work, and because I went and got his medication from Ramrod.” Sean gestured by shaking the pill bottle in his hand.

“You hurt him and you’ll answer to me.” David informed him, his voice chilled.

“Listen to yourself. You’re not his mother David, he’s a grown man and he knows what and who he wants. Let him think for himself.”

“He nearly fucking died, Bean, he needs time to recover and heal.”

“That’s bollocks and you know it.” Sean stood with his hands on his hips, fingers brushing the waistband of his low slung jeans. He hadn’t bothered to pull on a shirt when he had heard David and Craig arguing. He had stepped out on to the verandah, watching from the shadows as they argued and moved towards Craig’s room. “he needs to have his brothers, his heroes, to treat him like they used to. He needs to be allowed to recover without being smothered. He needs to be Craig. Not the invalid, not the cripple, just Craig.”

“I meant it Bean, you hurt him, your ass is mine.” David warned.

“Duly noted.” Sean nodded, his hand on the doorknob. “Go back to your boyfriend David, you look like shite.”

Stepping through the door, Sean smiled as Craig turned his head and looked at him as he came through the door.

“Go away.” Craig muttered his face flushing pinkly with embarrassment.

“No can do.” Sean smiled, quickly flipping the bottle of pills onto the bed, well within reach of Craig’s hand, as he walked through to the bathroom and filled a plastic glass with water.

“I wanted to come and say hello Soldier Boy, so I told your brothers I’d bring your pills for them. Figured you could use a break from Florence Mk 1 an 2.” Sean watched Craig’s trembling hands struggling with the child proof lid as he spoke. “Want a hand?” he gestured towards the bottle as he put the glass on the bedside table.

Craig nodded and lifted the bottle towards Sean, his eyes downcast, ashamed at his new disabilities. Sean quickly snapped open the bottle and tipped two pills into his palm. Lifting Craig’s hand in his, Sean tipped the pills onto Craig’s palm and closed his hand over Craig’s for a moment before lifting the glass of water and handing it to Craig. Waiting just long enough for Craig to eagerly swallow the pills, he took the glass from him and put it back on the bedside table.

“give me your hand.” Sean commanded him.

“No.” Craig clenched his fists as tightly closed as he could, ignoring the cramps that immediately bit into them and pushed them under the edge of the sheet.

“Don’t be a prick, Soldier boy.” Sean smiled as he watched Craig relax back against the pillows, the lines of stress and pain draining from his features. “Give me your hand.”

Without waiting for Craig to move, Sean reached across the bed and lifted Craig’s hand between both of his. Feeling the tension in Craig’s hand, Sean balanced it on both of his hands and gently began to rub his thumbs across the back of Craig’s hand.

“Can you tell me what happened?” Sean asked quietly as he gently massaged Craig’s hand.

Craig shook his head, reluctant to voice his experiences.

“I’d like to know what did this to you.” Sean probed, “I’d like to kick the bastards ass.”

‘Billy already did.” Craig sighed.

“Someone needed to.” Sean replied, knowing full well the extent of Craig’s injuries and the reason for them, after extensive conversations with Billy. “Is it just your hands?”

Craig shook his head slowly, sinking into the soothing relief of Sean’s hands and his medication.

Placing Craig’s hand back on the bed, Sean lifted the other hand and massaged it gently.

“A few years ago I had a fall, broke a few bones, the pain meds only worked for a couple of hours. I had a nurse with magic hands. Taught me how to massage the muscles, it went a long way towards extending the potency of the pain killers.”

“Sometimes the pain in my thigh is like someone is slicing it with a machete.” Craig murmured, his eyes closed, his head tilted back, relaxed and breathing deeply.

“I’ve been there. I think I might be able to help. Can I pull the sheet back?” Sean asked quietly as he placed Craig’s hand back against the bed.

“I don’t think so,” Craig sighed.

“It’s fine.” Sean soothed him as he folded the sheet back, his mind whirling as he saw the angry red scars and cruel damage done to such strong and perfect legs. His rough, calloused fingers trailed across the deepest, angriest scar, unaccountably enraged with whoever had done this to Craig.

“Please just cover it up Sean.” Craig’s words slurred almost drunkenly as the medication tightened it’s hold on him.

“Not a chance.” Sean answered, “These scars are part of what makes you, you.” Sean’s hand traced carefully over Craig’s thigh, testing how much his touch hurt Craig. Leaning closer to Craig, Sean’s fingers and thumbs caressed and massaged, his deft touch loosening the tense muscles slowly.

“ ‘S good.” Craig whispered, his eyes closed wearily as he relaxed. “Don’t stop.”

“Won’t unless you tell me too.” Sean murmured softly, glancing up at Craig, he noted the way the deep grooves of tension around his mouth had eased in the last few minutes.

“Magic fingers.” Craig sighed, one hand lifting to trace Sean’s short hair.

“I think it’s more to do with the drugs than my fingers.” Sean replied an ironic chuckle in his voice.

“No. You. Spesh…Magic.” Craig’s words run together almost drunkenly as he finally relaxed, his head turned on the pillow, his eyes closing wearily, a gentle moan escaping his lips, his fingers brushing against Sean’s thigh as sleep claimed him.

“You’re the special one, Soldier Boy.” Sean murmured, his fingers stilling on the tortured muscles of Craig’s leg, as he allowed himself, finally, to hungrily watch Craig as he slept. Pulling the sheet back up to Craig’s chest, Sean stood and bending over Craig, he carefully cradled him against his chest as he slipped two of the pillows that were propping him up from beneath his head. Smoothing his hair back, Sean pressed a tender kiss against his forehead before straightening and flicking on the bedside lamp and walking out of the room. At the door Sean paused to look back at him, then turned off the overhead light, plunging the room into the soft muted light of the lamp’s weak illumination.

[ Chapter 28](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/7519.html)


	28. Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists <28/34>

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/). You get today’s chapter a few hours early because I’m going to be out for a while today and I might not be home in time to post.

_  
**Western Lovers: Cowboys & Biologists (28/34)**   
_   
  
[   
](http://photobucket.com)

**Title:** Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists  <28/34>  
 **Author:**[](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/profile)[ **sassywitch**](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/)  
 **Beta** regularly by the patient and talented [](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/profile)[**charlieisagirl**](http://charlieisagirl.livejournal.com/)  
 **Pairing:** OB/DW  
 **Rating:** NC-17 for the series, and for this chapter.  
 **Summary:** David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.  
 **Feedback:** Feedback is my writers crack, which is not to be confused at all with plumbers crack.  
 **Disclaimer:** Not at all true in reality. These men whilst adorable and perfectly happy to slash themselves, their actual relationship is something that they only know. This story is adapted from a series of books that I adored when I was younger written by Elizabeth Lowell.  
 **Word Count:** 3378  
 **Previous Story:** Can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1656893.html)  
 **Previous Ordaisy chapter:** As suggested by [](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/profile)[**mystery_ink**](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/) can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1650642.html)  
 **Previous Chapters:**  
[Chapter 1](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/353.html)|[Chapter 2](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/597.html) |[Chapter 3](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/910.html)|[Chapter 4](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1032.html)|[Chapter 5](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1359.html)|[Chapter 6](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1630.html)|[ Chapter 7](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2014.html)|[ Chapter 8](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2254.html)|[ Chapter 9](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2332.html)|[ Chapter 10](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2625.html)|[ Chapter 11](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3070.html)|[ Chapter 12](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3269.html)|[ Chapter 13](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3428.html)|[ Chapter 14](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3585.html)|[ Chapter 15](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3915.html)|[ Chapter 16](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4160.html)|[ Chapter 17](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4474.html)|[ Chapter 18](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4844.html)|[ Chapter 19](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4918.html)|[ Chapter 20](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/5357.html)|[ Chapter 21](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/5428.html)|[ Chapter 22](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/5851.html)|[ Chapter 23](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/5952.html)|[ Chapter 24](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/6322.html)|[ Chapter 25](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/6685.html)|[ Chapter 26](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/7013.html)|[ Chapter 27](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/7327.html)

  
 **Posted to:** [](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/profile)[**fellowshippers**](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/) , [](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/profile)[**monaboyd**](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/) and [](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/profile)[**ordaisy**](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/)  
 **Header Art:** Courtesy of the incredibly talented [](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/profile)[**loki_girl**](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/).  
 **Author’s Notes:** Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/). You get today’s chapter a few hours early because I’m going to be out for a while today and I might not be home in time to post.

~*~*~*~*~*

  
Crossing his ankles, David leaned against the railing waiting for his lover. All was almost right and good with the world. Craig was home, he was nowhere near well yet, but he was home, Billy was, under Dom’s care, almost himself again and tonight the double L was going into town to let their hair down and celebrate. The next generation all had sitters, Craig’s nurse was staying overnight and Liv’s half brother Sean Bean was staying home just in case. Best part of the whole plan? His lover was coming to the dance with him. David blushed hotly and chuckled, he felt like a schoolboy.

Feeling almost like this was their first ‘date’ David had taken special care in his preparations. A special trip into town, under the guise of collecting mail, had seen his hair neatly cut and his beard trimmed. His newest black felt hat sat atop his head. A new rust colored western shirt purchased on the same trip, jeans that he’d washed and pressed and highly polished black boots completed his look. His fingers rested lightly on his shiny silver belt buckle, the smile on his face widening as the door in front of him opened.

Orlando smiled broadly as he stepped out of the room. Dressed in a deep blue shirt and black jeans, his deep brown curls tousled and finger combed, he twisted a borrowed white straw hat in his long fingers.

“Do I pass muster?” Orlando asked quietly.

David reached out to ruffle the curls at Orlando’s temple affectionately. Suddenly unable to resist, he pulled Orlando towards him. Pressing their lips together wetly, David’s mouth opened, his tongue tracing Orlando’s lush lips hungrily.

His body against David’s from knee to chest, Orlando moaned into David’s mouth, the hat dropping unnoticed to the floor as his hands moving to clasp David’s hips tightly.

“Does that answer your question?” David asked, his mouth sliding across Orlando’s face.

“Do we have to go?” Orlando whispered, his lips never lifted from David’s face as he spoke, his tongue flicking against David’s skin with each word.

“Yeah.” David answered slowly. Straightening, he released the younger man, putting temptation out of reach, his eyes focused on Orlando’s lips as he spoke. “We don’t get to socialize much, it’ll be fun.”

“If you say so.” Orlando smiled, pressing a teasing kiss against David’s lips.

“C’mon.” David bent down to lift Orlando’s hat and pushed it onto his tousled curls before he folded his hand through Orlando’s and pulled him along the verandah after him. “Before I change my mind.”

Almost bounding down the stairs behind David, Orlando reached up with his free hand and brushed his fingertips across the back of David’s neck. “I’ll take a raincheck, just until later.” At the foot of the stairs, Orlando pulled David into his arms and into the shadows of the stairwell, “If I’m a good boy, maybe we can find one of those pay by the hour motel rooms and amuse ourselves before we come home.” Pressing his lips against David’s, his tongue flicking across David’s teeth before pushing inside his mouth hungrily, his hands roaming all over David’s body.

David moaned as he pressed against Orlando, his own hands lifting to frame Orlando’s face, his thumbs tracing his lover’s cheekbones slowly. “Please Orli,” David whispered, pushing himself away from his lover. “We can’t do this now, or we’ll never leave.” David pulled back to look into Orlando’s eyes. “I want to take you dancing, is that so bad?”

Orlando looked at David for a long moment, a smile creasing his face, he lifted his hand to let his thumb trail across David’s bottom lip. “I love you my beautiful warrior.”

David closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath and opened his mouth to speak as Orlando pressed his fingers to David’s lips. “I know, not now and you don’t want to hear it. It’s okay, I know.”

“I’m sorry.” David murmured, pulling back slowly.

“No. You’re not, but its okay.” He leaned in to press a quick hard kiss to David’s lips. “I thought you promised me a dance.”

As David and Orlando walked out of the shadows and towards David’s pick up truck, Viggo called to them from his own vehicle. “I thought we were going to have to send out a search party for you two.”

“We were busy.” David shrugged non-commitally.

“Apparently.” Liv leaned out of the passenger side of the truck, a wide grin on her face. “I’d like to be that busy.”

“Liv….” Viggo warned, a laugh in his voice. “You two go on ahead, Billy’s just checking on Craig and then we’ll be along.”

David nodded, his hand on Orlando’s door as he climbed into the truck. Pushing the door closed, he moved around the front of the truck and climbed into the driver’s seat, waving quickly as he pulled out of the driveway.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Swaying together in the middle of the sawdust covered boards of the dance floor, Orlando leaned his head against David’s shoulder, his breath ghosting across David’s skin, his arms looped around David’s waist.

“I’ve got a surprise for you.” He whispered into David’s ear.

“I’ve got you, I don’t need anything else.” David replied softly, tilting his head just enough to press a soft kiss to Orlando’s head.

Moving one hand, he slipped his hand into his jeans pocket and extracted a silver key on a flat tag bearing the name of the one hotel in Helm’s Deep. Lifting it high enough for David to see, Orlando tilted his head back enough to look into David’s blue eyes. “I don’t want to wait until we get home,” Orlando murmured, “I want you, David.”

“How am I supposed to refuse that?” David dipped his head to kiss Orlando gently.

“If I’m very lucky you can’t.” Orlando stuffed the key back into his pocket and looped his arms back around David’s waist, pulling him in tightly against his own body, teasingly rubbing his growing arousal against David. “Please?” he asked softly.

David lifted his head to glance around the crowded room, all of the local ranchers and their staff had turned out in force. Most of the Double L’s family was congregated on this side of the dance floor. The ranch hands pairing up with local single girls, Liv and Viggo, happily dancing plastered together like newlyweds. Dom and Billy danced only a few feet from them, pressed so close they appeared to be one body, their heads tilted together, each with one arm wrapped around the other, their other hands with their fingers laced and pressed against their chests. This was the first time since the twins were born that they had been separated from them and both men were taking advantage of the short break. Looking back at his lover, he lifted one hand to cup Orlando’s face gently, leaning in to press a soft kiss to his lips before he spoke. Deep down he knew that he wanted what his brother and his friends had, but too often he had seen what would happen if he let emotions rule good judgment. He wasn’t going to put himself through that for anyone. His fingers trailed gently across Orlando’s cheekbones, his eyes following the path of Orlando’s tongue as it nervously traced his lips.

“Let’s go,” David murmured. He broke away from Orlando, pulling him off the makeshift dance floor and towards the door.

Orlando followed David meekly, ignoring the raised eyebrows from David’s family and friends, blushing as his eyes met Dom’s. As they stepped outside the building, David stopped moving. Pausing behind him, Orlando let his long fingers trail down the centre seam of David’s jeans, allowing his hand to gently cup one taut buttock. Tilting his head slightly, Orlando let his tongue trail across the skin at the edge of David’s collar.

“I want you, David.” Orlando murmured as he pressed himself against David’s back, his teeth finding David’s earlobe as he spoke.

“Keep that up fairytale boy and we won’t get to the motel.” David turned his head to capture Orlando’s lips.

“I can’t help it.” Orlando whispered into David’s ear, his long fingers tracing David’s buttocks and thighs, letting his hand slip between David’s legs.

“Orli.” David breathed, his feet parting as he leaned back into Orlando’s touch.

Lifting both hands to David’s shoulders Orlando turned his lover to face him. Leaning back against the wall behind him, Orlando pulled David down to him, their mouths meeting hungrily in a wet open mouthed kiss. One hand moved to tangle in David’s hair as he pulled him closer, the other slid down David’s torso, toying briefly with his belt buckle before slipping lower to cup David’s arousal and caressing him.

“Orli,” David growled against Orlando’s lips. “Start here and it will finish here.”

“Can’t have that now, can we.” Orlando grinned, his fingers closing around the impressive ridge and stroking firmly.

“I mean it.” David groaned, burrowing his face into Orlando’s shoulder, his knees trembling as he slumped against his lover.  
“Would that be so bad?” Orlando trailed his tongue around the shell of David’s ear.

“To go off in my pants like a teenager?” David moaned, turning his head to give Orlando’s tongue better access. “Damned embarrassing.” David breathed, his hips pushing into Orlando’s stroking hand.

“Nothing to be embarrassed about.” Orlando’s teeth found David’s earlobe and nipped it gently. “Just means I turn you on.” His hips rocked against David slowly, his own arousal insistent behind thick denim.

“As if there was any question.” David whimpered as Orlando’s fingers tightened and stroked him faster. “Orli, stop please.” David caught Orlando’s face in his hands and pressed their foreheads together. “Please. I want to feel your skin on mine.”

Pulling himself away from David, his lips kiss swollen and his eyes heavy lidded with passion. Lacing his fingers through David’s, he pulled him along the verandah towards the small motel that serviced the town. Struggling briefly with the key in trembling fingers, David’s free hand stroking Orlando’s back and buttocks as he watched the fumbling struggle with the door.

As the door swung inwards, David pushed Orlando through the opening, pushing it closed behind them, his fingers tracing Orlando’s face, David walked him backwards until the bed pressed against the back of his long legs and they fell onto the firm mattress together.

“Eager are we?” Orlando asked as his fingers carded through David’s hair, pulling him down to meet his lips in an open mouthed kiss. His legs fell open, David nestling into the gap between Orlando’s wantonly spread legs.

“Someone wouldn’t behave himself.” David murmured, his tongue trailing across Orlando’s lip punctuating his words. His hips thrusting against Orlando, the friction of the heavy denim that covered both of them brought a moan to his lips.

“behave is it?” Orlando chuckled wrapping his legs around David’s hips and rocking his hips up into David’s thrusts, his fingers trailing across David’s back, touching him hungrily through the fabric of his shirt. “I’m expected to not tear your clothes off of you when you wear new, sexy clothes? Or maybe I wasn’t supposed to notice that you had your hair cut and your beard trimmed and you’re so incredibly hot that I can barely take my eyes let alone my hands off you?” Orlando murmured, his lips pressing against David’s face in hot, wet kisses as he punctuated his words. “Or that you were hands down the sexiest man in that bar. I’ve been hard since the moment I opened that door tonight.” Orlando licked a long, slow trail up the side of David’s face. “I’m hungry for you,” he whispered, “I don’t think I can behave.”

David rested his weight on his elbows and smiled into Orlando’s face, as his fingers framed his head. “Maybe I don’t want you to behave.”

Orlando looked searchingly into David’s ice blue eyes before he spoke, “Good to know.”

“Why would that be?” David asked softly, his eyes sparkling as he let his fingers curl in Orlando’s hair, his hips undulating roughly against Orlando’s.

Without speaking Orlando pushed against David, flipping him smoothly onto his back, rising above him to straddle him, his knees framing David’s hips. Leaning forward, with trembling fingers, Orlando unbuttoned David’s shirt with painful deliberation. David’s hands slid up and down Orlando’s thighs, his hips thrusting up towards Orlando’s desperate for friction against his aching arousal.

As David’s shirt fell open, Orlando’s fingers traced across the skin exposed, pulling gently at the swirls of ginger chest hair that was revealed, leaning down to lathe at David’s newly exposed nipple with his wet tongue. “You taste good.” Orlando whispered.

“Didn’t we talk about starting and finishing?” David moaned, his hips arching up desperately.

“What happened to that iron self control you were so proud of?” Orlando asked, his fingers lingering on the button at the waistband of David’s jeans, his thumbs deliberately rubbing across the ridge of David’s arousal.

“You.” David growled, pressing up into Orlando’s touch.

“Then we’re even then.” Orlando murmured as he trailed his mouth wetly across David’s chest and belly, his fingers quickly unbuttoning David’s jeans. “Because I’ve never felt like this before.”

Dipping his tongue repeatedly into David’s navel, his fingers closed around David’s freed erection and stroked slowly. His thumb brushed across the tip with every slow, twisting stroke.

“I’m serious, Orli.” David groaned from between gritted teeth, as he struggled not to thrust into Orlando’s grip.

“So am I,” Orlando breathed, looking up at David from under his lashes, as he kissed the tip of David’s arousal. His lips bending into a grin as David’s breath left him in a tortured moan; Orlando opened his mouth and took David into his mouth.

Unable to stop himself, David’s hand’s reached for Orlando’s head, his fingers twisting in the curls as he struggled to reign in his control. Orlando’s fingers pushed frantically at the stiff denim that still sat against David’s hips, dragging it down, pushing the open vee of fabric lower. As David struggled against the blinding white hot wave of arousal that burned through his body, his fingers gentled in Orlando’s hair, the soft brown curls twisting around his fingers haphazardly, the soft, satin locks as inexplicably arousing to him as Orlando’s touch.

David’s jeans pushed only as low as his thighs, Orlando pressed against David’s leg with one hand, his fingers bruising David’s pale skin with their biting pressure. The other caressed below his lover’s thick arousal, calloused fingers brushing relentlessly across David’s scrotum and lower, fingertips brushing across the sensitive skin even lower.

Swirling his tongue across David's arousal, Orlando lifted his head to look into David's face. One hand lifted to slowly stroke David's face, his other hand relentlessly stroking.

"Do you know how incredibly hot you are?" Orlando whispered.

"Please, Orli?" David whimpered, "Please, don't stop."

"Oh, I have no intention of stopping." Orlando smiled, his thumb flicking slowly across the tip of David's arousal, sliding through the slick fluid.

David's hands grabbed desperately at Orlando, trembling fingers hungrily raking across Orlando's shirt frantic to feel his lovers skin.

Closing his hands around David's, Orlando smiled as he dipped his head, and sticking out his agile tongue, began to lick at the swollen glans, teasing and sucking until David's whole body shook and trembled with the strength of his desire.

His head dipped and dived, his eager tongue teasing and stroking until David's penis gleamed with his saliva. David was too big for Orlando to take all of him into his mouth, but he slid his velvety mouth and lips over as much as he could, and then he gripped the base of David's erection with his hand, toying also with the full, velvety sac of his scrotum.

David's strong thighs, still clothed, were clenched rigid by the strength of his arousal. Orlando's head dipped furiously over his throbbing arousal, faster and faster; until at last, judging his moment perfectly, Orlando pulled his head away and took David's full, heavy testicles in his soft mouth, swirling his tongue across their hair roughened skin as David's arousal began to helplessly spasm. Instantly closing his hand around the base of David's arousal, Orlando looked up at his lover, his breath heaving in his chest as he struggled to focus on David's face.

"Please, Orli, please God, don't stop, Please." David begged, his head tossing against the mattress, his hips arching up desperate for the continued friction.

Orlando lowered his head, his tongue pressing lower still, brushing wetly across the sensitive skin behind David's scrotum, as Orlando's hand slid along David's throbbing arousal, tight twisting strokes that set a punishing pace on his lover's flesh.

David's head jerked back, blindly despairing for release as his control crumbled and his orgasm flooded through him. Slippery fluids began to spurt across Orlando's fingers. Lifting his head quickly, his fingers still stroked David hungrily, his mouth closed tightly over the tip of David's arousal and sucking relentlessly, hungrily. As David’s flesh began to soften against Orlando’s tongue, Orlando tenderly released him, the desperate suction of his lips replaced by long, slow tender strokes of his tongue, gently cleaning sticky fluids from his flesh.

His breathing harsh enough to have run a marathon, Orlando slid up David’s body. Fitting himself along David’s supine body, Orlando pressed his open mouth against David’s, his body pressed along his side, his own denim covered arousal grinding frantically against David’s hip. Every stuttering undulation of his hips filled with his desperation to release the tension that was raging through his body.

David’s hands stroked Orlando’s back gently as he struggled to even breath normally again. Turning his head, he brushed his lips across Orlando’s tousled curls.

“I think you broke me.” David whispered.

“Hope not.” Orlando moaned, his lips fastened on David’s collarbone. “Got plans for you.” Orlando’s tongue trailed across the exposed skin at David’s neck, as he struggled one handed to unfasten the buttons of his shirt.

“Where did you learn to do that?” David whispered, his hand cupping Orlando’s face and turning it up to look into his eyes.

“I read.” Orlando growled as he ground his hips against David’s body, his mouth sliding across David’s wetly.

“Always said education was important.” David grinned as he rolled Orlando onto his back, his hand trailing down Orlando’s body, the heel of his hand grinding against Orlando’s arousal.

“Not as important as you.” Orlando moaned wantonly, his head thrown back exposing his throat to David’s mouth, his hips arching up into the pressure of David’s hand. “Please, David.”

“I’m not important.” David whispered against Orlando’s lips, his fingers trailing up Orlando’s chest to flick his fingernail

“You are and I want to please you.” Orlando moaned, his head thrown back giving David better access.

“You always do.” David took the invitation and licked Orlando’s throat from the open buttons of his shirt to the tip of his chin.

“Fuck!” Orlando whimpered, his entire body strung taut, arching up into whatever touch David was granting him. “Touch me, David, please touch me.”

“I’m not going to Fairy Tale Boy.” David murmured against Orlando’s throat, his hand moving relentlessly over Orlando’s denim clad arousal.

“What?” Orlando wailed, his hips pushing up into David’s hand desperately.

“You weren’t the only one who left home with plans.” David explained, his fingers tracing Orlando’s length through the denim.

“Please, David.” Orlando begged.

“Anticipation.” David grinned as he leaned in for a long wet kiss. Pulling himself to his feet, David rearranged his jeans and fastened them slowly. Straddling Orlando’s hips, David ground himself against them, before dragging his shirt off the end of the bed and slipping his arms into it. Standing, he extended a hand to his lover.

“Please? I swear it won’t take me long, David. I’m so close.” Orlando whimpered wantonly, begging for release.

“Nope. I want one last dance, Orlando, indulge me?” David smiled, taking Orlando's hands in his, he pulled his lover to his feet. Wrapping his arms around him, David kissed him wetly, his hands gently caressing his taut back. As the kiss ended, David rested his forehead against Orlando's, he untucked Orlando’s shirt and let the ends flutter down to shield his arousal from inquisitive eyes. Cupping Orlando’s flushed face in his hands, thumbs caressing his cheekbones tenderly. “Think you can wait, Orli?”

“It’s a damn good thing I love you.” Orlando grumbled as he let himself be led from the room.

[ Chapter 29](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/7976.html)


	29. Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists <28/34>

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/). My humble apologies for taking so long to get back into the swing of things. Should everything go according to plan, I’ll be posting a chapter a day until finished.

_  
**FIC: Western Lovers:Cowboys & Biologists (29/34)**   
_   
  
[   
](http://photobucket.com)

**Title:** Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists  <28/34>  
 **Author:**[](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/profile)[ **sassywitch**](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/)  
 **Beta** by the talented [](http://alassenya.livejournal.com/profile)[**alassenya**](http://alassenya.livejournal.com/)  
 **Pairing:** OB/DW  
 **Rating:** NC-17 for the series, and for this chapter.  
 **Summary:** David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.  
 **Feedback:** Feedback is my writers crack, which is not to be confused at all with plumbers crack.  
 **Disclaimer:** Not at all true in reality. These men whilst adorable and perfectly happy to slash themselves, their actual relationship is something that they only know. This story is adapted from a series of books that I adored when I was younger written by Elizabeth Lowell.  
 **Word Count:** 3378  
 **Previous Story:** Can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1656893.html)  
 **Previous Ordaisy chapter:** As suggested by [](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/profile)[**mystery_ink**](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/) can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1650642.html)  
 **Previous Chapters:**  
[Chapter 1](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/353.html)|[Chapter 2](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/597.html) |[Chapter 3](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/910.html)|[Chapter 4](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1032.html)|[Chapter 5](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1359.html)|[Chapter 6](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1630.html)|[ Chapter 7](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2014.html)|[ Chapter 8](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2254.html)|[ Chapter 9](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2332.html)|[ Chapter 10](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2625.html)|[ Chapter 11](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3070.html)|[ Chapter 12](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3269.html)|[ Chapter 13](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3428.html)|[ Chapter 14](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3585.html)|[ Chapter 15](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3915.html)|[ Chapter 16](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4160.html)|[ Chapter 17](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4474.html)|[ Chapter 18](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4844.html)|[ Chapter 19](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4918.html)|[ Chapter 20](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/5357.html)|[ Chapter 21](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/5428.html)|[ Chapter 22](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/5851.html)|[ Chapter 23](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/5952.html)|[ Chapter 24](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/6322.html)|[ Chapter 25](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/6685.html)|[ Chapter 26](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/7013.html)|[ Chapter 27](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/7327.html)|[ Chapter 28](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/7519.html)

  
 **Posted to:** [](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/profile)[**fellowshippers**](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/) , [](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/profile)[**monaboyd**](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/) and [](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/profile)[**ordaisy**](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/)  
 **Header Art:** Courtesy of the incredibly talented [](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/profile)[**loki_girl**](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/).  
 **Author’s Notes:** Special thanks to [](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/profile)[**dylan_dufresne**](http://dylan-dufresne.livejournal.com/). My humble apologies for taking so long to get back into the swing of things. Should everything go according to plan, I’ll be posting a chapter a day until finished.

~*~*~*~*~*  
Hearing the slow grinding beat of a country song filling the air as they slipped out of the motel room, David slipped his hand into Orlando’s and dragged him back into the dance. As they entered the room, David stopped dead in his tracks. The five piece band played on the makeshift stage, while the Double L family and the townsfolk were almost all on the dance floor. Viggo and Liv, Billy and Dom, and even the ranch hands were all dancing with young ladies from town in a huge ever moving circle. David’s eyebrow quirked as he noticed that their newest hand, Lee, a young woman who had drifted onto the Double L a few weeks ago, was happily ensconced in the arms of a young lady.

“Who’d have thought?” David murmured, gesturing at Lee and her partner as he pulled Orlando into his arms.

“When love is there, nothing else really matters, but I think they’re cute,” Orlando spoke cryptically and gesticulated towards the others. “They're not nearly as cute as your brother, or the rest of your family for that matter.”

David turned his attention to his family. Liv, her long hair flowing around her shoulders, was nestled under Viggo’s strong arm, her face radiant with happiness as Viggo tightened his hand around hers and he spun her away from his body and reeled her back in, her softly flowing skirt billowing around her knees.

Directly behind them, Dom was ensconced in Billy’s arms, one arm behind the other's back, the other with their fingers laced together in front as their feet moved in unison, their bodies flowing in perfect harmony. Dom’s head tilted to rest on Billy’s shoulder as they shared intimate words. A smile curled David’s lips as he realized that Dom was healing his brother, again.

“They’re perfect together aren’t they,” David murmured, his breath fanning Orlando’s hair as he pulled him into his arms.

“Almost as perfect as us,” Orlando whispered, tilting his head up to kiss the silky pelt of David’s beard.

“Didn’t someone mention a dance and then plans?” He slid his hand down the length of one of David’s strongly muscled thighs.

“Interested in a bit of horizontal dancing are we?” David asked.

“More than a little bit, if it’s all the same to you.” Orlando’s hand brushed against David’s groin as his words brushed the skin of David’s neck.

Pulling Orlando by the hand after him, they fell into the circle between Billy and Dom and Viggo and Liv. David’s arm slid around Orlando’s shoulders as he led him through the first round of intricate steps laughingly, both men were out of time more than they were in time. As Orlando spun out away from him David’s eyes met Billy’s.

“Where did you disappear to?” Billy asked innocently.

“Now Billy,” Viggo’s voice drifted to them over the husky gravel of the vocalist’s voice. “Don’t tease your brother. Anyone can see he’s been mattress dancing.”

“Lucky mattress,” Liv grinned, tossing a playful grin over Viggo’s shoulder, her fingers tracing over the curve of Viggo’s buttocks.

“Are we done now?” David growled, the smile on his face negating the venom in his words.

“They are.” Dom grinned, poking Billy in the ribs as he spun away from his body, and was pulled back in again.

“We’re not going to wait for last drinks,” David stated.

The dance completed, the participants started to scatter, wandering to the bar and to their seats, mingling and laughter flowing around the room.

“Going home are we?” Billy asked quietly, fully cognizant of his brothers plans. He’d caught him earlier in the day whilst in preparation for the evening and had lent a helping hand.

“No.” David grinned slyly, “We’ll see y’all for breakfast.” He tugged Orlando by the hand away from the dance floor, laughing as Orlando waved to their friends and family.

“We won’t wait up.” Dom called after them as both couples watched their retreat with wide grins and laughter.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Moving quickly down the stairs at the side of the porch, Orlando pulled David into the shadows of the narrow lane beside the building. Pressing him against the wall, Orlando’s hands framed David’s head as he leaned in for a kiss. Their mouths were already open as their lips met, tongues delving hungrily. Lips sliding wetly, devouring each other, Orlando pressing his body against David’s, perfectly aligned from head to toe. David’s hands slid down Orlando’s torso and grasped his hips, pulling him tightly against him, grinding into his lover. The friction only made Orlando hungrier. The kiss deepened, Orlando’s mouth sliding sloppily across David’s bearded face and back to his mouth again. Tongue plunging, teeth clashing, lips slippery and wet as Orlando devoured him, David moaned under the onslaught. Desperate to grow be as physically close as he could without climbing into his lover.

“Orli. Please,” David framed Orlando’s face with his hands and pulled him back enough to speak. “Stop.”

“Need. You.” Orlando moaned. “Can’t wait much longer.” He arched his hips into David’s body and ground wantonly.

“Please, Orli.” David held his shoulders and pushed him away from his body, then cupped Orlando’s face, tilting it to look into his passion glazed eyes. “Just a few more minutes. I swear. But I need you to help me. I swear to God if you touch me again, before we get to the car, I won’t be able to not fuck you right here in this alley.”

“That would be so bad?” Orli struggled to press himself against David’s body again.

“I’ve got plans for you tonight, Fairytale Boy. You aren’t the only one who made arrangements for us tonight.” David pressed a quick kiss to Orlando’s swollen lips. “Help me?”

Drawing a deep breath, Orlando pulled away from David’s touch. Closing his eyes briefly, Orlando looked up into David’s face as he pressed the heel of his hand against his own arousal relentlessly, a soft gasp leaving his lips. His eyes were heavy-lidded with arousal and his lips were kiss-swollen and glistening as his tongue darted out to wet them even more.

“Then lead on, warrior.” Orlando murmured, his voice husky with the force of his arousal.

His lips pressed together in determination, David pushed away from the wall and walked towards their truck without a backward glance. Orlando followed behind him, watching the play of David’s muscled buttocks under denim as he walked. David slid behind the wheel and waited for Orlando to climb into his side, before he started the truck and drove off.

Sliding into the centre of the wide bench seat, Orlando leaned forward and flicked through the CDs sitting in a console beside the stereo system. A soft smile twisted his lips as he recognized the music, before he selected one and slid it into the CD player. A smoky female voice poured from the speakers, melodic strings and piano music accompanying her. Sliding closer to David, Orlando leaned his head on David’s shoulder, his long fingered hand resting on David’s thigh. His eyes drifted closed as he felt the play of muscles under his hand while David drove. Whatever else the night brought, Orlando was a happy man, David might not be ready to say he loved him, but tonight he had said it in every way but with words.

“Where are we off too?” Orlando asked quietly.

“Away from people,” David answered, “I want you all to myself.”

Tilting his head, Orlando caught David’s earlobe in his teeth and tugged gently. “We’re away from town now.”

Turning the wheel, David drove in silence for a few miles before he stopped the truck and turned in his seat, leaning across Orlando, he opened the glove compartment and pulled a length of brown silk out. Fingers splayed, David cupped the back of Orlando’s head, his fingers twining in the soft curls, before he dragged Orlando closer for a long, wet kiss. As he drew back from the kiss, David slipped the silk around Orlando’s face and tied the blindfold securely.

“Kinky,” Orlando whispered, leaning forward to resume their kiss.

“Hold that thought,” David murmured, pulling away from Orlando’s embrace he slid out of the truck.

Orlando sat silently, listening intently to the noises David was making outside, and thinking about his lover, his hand slipped to his crotch and slowly rubbed his arousal through the thick denim, drawing a soft sigh from his lips.

“I don’t think so.” David stated as his hand darted out to move Orlando’s fingers, bringing them to his lips to press a kiss to his palm. “I think that could be my job.”

“I think you may have been a little slack in your duties then.” Orlando sighed as David’s fingers slid across his arousal.

“Oh, I don’t think so.” David murmured, his fingers sliding across the denim, fingers folding around the insistent ridge and stroking insistently.

“David. Please?” Orlando groaned, his hips arching up into David’s touch, physically begging for the completion his body craved like air.

“I’ve got a surprise for you.” David leaned forward and pressed his lips against Orlando’s and kissed him slowly. His tongue trailed across Orlando’s lips and kissed him tenderly.

Lifting him off the seat and waiting until Orlando had found his feet then led him around to the back of the truck.

Kissing him wetly, David turned him in his arms and slowly unlooped the sash of silk from around his face. With Orlando’s back pressed against his chest, David watched Orlando’s face as he saw David’s preparations.

Orlando’s eyes widened, his hands stroking David’s arms as he saw the satin covered mattress in the bed of the truck, a mountain of soft pillows at its head. Several sturdy pillar candles stood burning on the edges of the tailgate and across the top of the cabin.

“You did this for me?” Orlando breathed, his lips finding the corner of David’s mouth as he spoke.

“Us.” David murmured, releasing his hold on Orlando, he hoisted himself onto the tailgate and pulled his boots from his feet, looking up into his lover’s face, he slowly began unbuttoning his shirt. “Can I interest you in joining me?”

  
[ Chapter 30](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/8422.html)


	30. Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists <30/34>

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.

_  
**FIC: Western Lovers:Cowboys & Biologists (30/34)**   
_   
  
[   
](http://photobucket.com)

**Title:** Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists  <30/34>  
 **Author:**[](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/profile)[ **sassywitch**](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/)  
 **Beta** by the talented [](http://alassenya.livejournal.com/profile)[**alassenya**](http://alassenya.livejournal.com/)  
 **Pairing:** OB/DW  
 **Rating:** NC-17 for the series, and for this chapter.  
 **Summary:** David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.  
 **Feedback:** Feedback is my writers crack, which is not to be confused at all with plumbers crack.  
 **Disclaimer:** Not at all true in reality. These men whilst adorable and perfectly happy to slash themselves, their actual relationship is something that they only know. This story is adapted from a series of books that I adored when I was younger written by Elizabeth Lowell.  
 **Word Count:** 3378  
 **Previous Story:** Can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1656893.html)  
 **Previous Ordaisy chapter:** As suggested by [](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/profile)[**mystery_ink**](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/) can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1650642.html)  
 **Previous Chapters:**  
[Chapter 1](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/353.html)|[Chapter 2](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/597.html) |[Chapter 3](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/910.html)|[Chapter 4](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1032.html)|[Chapter 5](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1359.html)|[Chapter 6](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1630.html)|[ Chapter 7](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2014.html)|[ Chapter 8](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2254.html)|[ Chapter 9](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2332.html)|[ Chapter 10](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2625.html)|[ Chapter 11](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3070.html)|[ Chapter 12](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3269.html)|[ Chapter 13](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3428.html)|[ Chapter 14](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3585.html)|[ Chapter 15](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3915.html)|[ Chapter 16](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4160.html)|[ Chapter 17](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4474.html)|[ Chapter 18](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4844.html)|[ Chapter 19](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4918.html)|[ Chapter 20](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/5357.html)|[ Chapter 21](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/5428.html)|[ Chapter 22](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/5851.html)|[ Chapter 23](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/5952.html)|[ Chapter 24](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/6322.html)|[ Chapter 25](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/6685.html)|[ Chapter 26](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/7013.html)|[ Chapter 27](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/7327.html)|[ Chapter 28](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/7519.html)

  
 **Posted to:** [](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/profile)[**fellowshippers**](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/) , [](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/profile)[**monaboyd**](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/) and [](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/profile)[**ordaisy**](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/)  
 **Header Art:** Courtesy of the incredibly talented [](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/profile)[**loki_girl**](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/).

~*~*~*~*~*  
Sitting on their thick sleeping bag, and pulling one knee up to his chin, Orlando watched David closely. It had been over a week since their momentous evening after the dance and Orlando could not remember a time in his life when he had been happier. David had arrived at the cabin last night and whilst still laconic, he was everything Orlando could ever want in a lover. Loving, attentive, tactile, he was like a different man to the one that had gone to war for his brothers. He was shirtless in the waning sunlight, his skin glistened with perspiration as he swung the axe over his head and swung it down against the wood on the chopping block. Several blows later, the branch split apart. David flicked the heavy axe effortlessly into the ground beside his feet and bent, lifting the chunks of wood into his arms.

Moving to their campfire, David settled the wood beside the roaring flames before he settled onto the bedroll next to Orlando, one hand lifting his chin far enough to cover Orlando’s lips with his own.

“What’s that for?” Orlando asked, tilting his head back for more kisses.

“Because you’re here.” David breathed against his lips.

“If I had known that’s all it took, I’d never move.” Orlando grinned, lifting his hand to cup the back of David’s head, pulling him closer, deepening the kiss hungrily.

“We should stop.” David whispered, his hand coasting slowly across Orlando’s chest.

“Because?” Orlando smiled, trailing his tongue along David’s bottom lip, his hand moving to David’s waistband, his thumb flicking the top button open.

“I didn’t come up here just for the sex, Orli.” David sighed, his legs falling open as Orlando cupped him through his denim jeans.

“I know that.” Orlando explained, his hand rubbing insistently across the hard ridge of David’s arousal. “But it’s an excellent alternative activity isn’t it?”

“You’re incorrigible.” David gasped as Orlando moved to straddle David’s hips, pushing their arousals together roughly.

“Already established. You’re here, I’m here, we’ve checked on the cats. Why not take advantage of the outdoors and ... well ... me? Since you’re here and all.” Orlando nipped at the corded muscles in David’s neck as he spoke.

“Come inside?” David’s hands moved down to cup Orlando’s hips and pull him closer.

“Nope, I like the outdoors.” Orlando licked David’s neck again.

“As soon as the sun goes down it’s going to be fucking cold out here Fairytale Boy.” David laced his fingers behind Orlando’s neck and pulled him in for another kiss.

“Winter’s almost done David, it‘s not that cold.” Orlando chuckled as he nipped at David’s bottom lip.

“Can tell it won’t be your bare ass in the air.” David nipped at Orlando’s lip.

“Doesn’t need to be bare.” Orlando murmured as he pushed his hand into the waistband of David’s jeans. “Just enough.”

“I’ve created a monster.” David groaned as Orlando’s hand closed around him and stroked.

“That mean we’re staying out here?” Orlando pushed David back against the sleeping bag, straddling him as brushed his fingertips across David’s nipples.

“Do I get a choice?” David grinned.

“Not so much.” Orlando leaned down to lick David’s nipples.

“Then maybe I should let you do what you want?” David quirked an eyebrow and watched as his words settled in Orlando’s thoughts.

“Enticing as that offer may be.” Orlando replied slowly, his tongue trailing down David’s belly. “I much prefer it when you do me.”

“You definitely have yourself a way with words.” David growled as his hand moved down to slide into Orlando’s jeans.

Orlando unbuttoned his jeans quickly and pushed them from his legs. “Prefer your way with your hands, just quietly,” Orlando murmured, grasping David’s hand and pulling it back to his arousal.

“Don’t you think I’m a little overdressed?” David queried as he closed his lips over Orlando’s nipple, his hand stroking Orlando’s arousal slowly.

“I seem to recall someone bitching about their ass being bare,” Orlando sighed.

David flipped Orlando onto his back on the sleeping bag, and shrugging his jeans down his hips, he slowly rubbed their arousals together. “Small price to pay for being buried deep inside you.”

Orlando’s hands lifted to brush across David’s buttocks. “I’ll keep your sexy ass warm for you,” He snickered as his hips pushed up into David’s.

Their lovemaking was slow and tender, and as night fell around them and the brisk air cooled the perspiration on their skin, David pulled Orlando tighter into his embrace and shrugged the sleeping bag higher across their bodies.

“Do you miss your brother and sister?” David asked quietly.

Orlando’s heart beat faster in his chest at David’s question. He could count on one hand the times that David had instigated personal conversation. “Mark and I have never been as close as you and Billy, but I miss Aurora.”

David’s fingers traced the delicate gold ring that sat in the hollow of Orlando’s throat. “Family is important.”

They lay in silence for several minutes, David’s fingers tracing the curve of Orlando’s throat with his fingertips.

“Why are you still alone, David?” Orlando asked quietly.

“I’m not.” David murmured softly, “I’ve got you.”

Orlando’s heart leapt at David’s words, struggling to keep his heart rate as normal as he could. “You know what I mean.”

“All love is, is pain, Fairytale Boy.” David stated flatly. “Why would I want to do that?”

“Some pain is worth enduring, David.” Orlando tilted his head up to look into David’s face.

“Not that pain. I watched my mother’s quest to be loved slowly kill her. I watched an asshole tear my brother’s heart out and drive him into himself so far it’s taken almost half of his life to get him back. I’ve watched Craig whore himself for partner after partner desperate for someone to love him and make him feel worthwhile.” David paused closing his eyes as he struggled to control his own emotions. “I’ll be fucked if anyone is holding that power over me.”

“It’s good to know where I stand.” Orlando whispered, his head dropping back against David’s arm, his eyes drifting closed before David could see the sheen of tears in his eyes.

“I never meant to hurt you.” David whispered, his breath ruffling Orlando’s curls.

“I never said you did.” Orlando shrugged, turning his face away from David. Drawing a deep shuddering breath he struggled to control his emotions.

“But I did anyway.” David cursed himself. Lifting one gentle hand he turned Orlando’s face towards him and pressed a tender kiss to his lips. “I told you Orli,” he murmured, his words punctuated by kisses, “I’m no prince and life is no fairytale.”

  
[ Chapter 31](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/8661.html)|  



	31. Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists <31/34>

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.

_  
**FIC: Western Lovers:Cowboys & Biologists (31/34)**   
_   
  
[   
](http://photobucket.com)

**Title:** Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists  <31/34>  
 **Author:**[](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/profile)[ **sassywitch**](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/)  
 **Beta** by the talented [](http://alassenya.livejournal.com/profile)[**alassenya**](http://alassenya.livejournal.com/)  
 **Pairing:** OB/DW  
 **Rating:** NC-17 for the series, and for this chapter.  
 **Summary:** David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.  
 **Feedback:** Feedback is my writers crack, which is not to be confused at all with plumbers crack.  
 **Disclaimer:** Not at all true in reality. These men whilst adorable and perfectly happy to slash themselves, their actual relationship is something that they only know. This story is adapted from a series of books that I adored when I was younger written by Elizabeth Lowell.  
 **Word Count:** 3078  
 **Previous Story:** Can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1656893.html)  
 **Previous Ordaisy chapter:** As suggested by [](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/profile)[**mystery_ink**](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/) can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1650642.html)  
 **Previous Chapters:**  
[Chapter 1](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/353.html)|[Chapter 2](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/597.html) |[Chapter 3](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/910.html)|[Chapter 4](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1032.html)|[Chapter 5](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1359.html)|[Chapter 6](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1630.html)|[ Chapter 7](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2014.html)|[ Chapter 8](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2254.html)|[ Chapter 9](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2332.html)|[ Chapter 10](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2625.html)|[ Chapter 11](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3070.html)|[ Chapter 12](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3269.html)|[ Chapter 13](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3428.html)|[ Chapter 14](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3585.html)|[ Chapter 15](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3915.html)|[ Chapter 16](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4160.html)|[ Chapter 17](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4474.html)|[ Chapter 18](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4844.html)|[ Chapter 19](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4918.html)|[ Chapter 20](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/5357.html)|[ Chapter 21](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/5428.html)|[ Chapter 22](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/5851.html)|[ Chapter 23](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/5952.html)|[ Chapter 24](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/6322.html)|[ Chapter 25](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/6685.html)|[ Chapter 26](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/7013.html)|[ Chapter 27](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/7327.html)|[ Chapter 28](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/7519.html)|[ Chapter 29](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/7976.html)|[ Chapter 30](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/8422.html)

  
 **Posted to:** [](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/profile)[**fellowshippers**](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/) , [](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/profile)[**monaboyd**](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/) and [](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/profile)[**ordaisy**](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/)  
 **Header Art:** Courtesy of the incredibly talented [](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/profile)[**loki_girl**](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/).

~*~*~*~*~*  
As Orlando trudged through the melting snow cover, he failed to notice the sprouting growth of new ground cover and the emergence of life from it’s icy shroud. His head was filled with the precious memories of his time on the Double L. The morning after the dance when they had both shown up for breakfast, sleep rumpled and both obviously sated and content only to endure the good natured ribbing of David’s family and friends. The times both of them had spent warm in the others embrace, simply watching nature unfold around them. Orlando closed his eyes sadly as he struggled not to give in to the desolation that filled him. For two weeks now Orlando had waited, hoping against hope that David would turn up, that he would realize what Orlando meant to him and come back. Every unexpected noise, every unexpected glimpse of movement would cause a reactive smile of happiness to split Orlando’s face. It was never David, though, and sadly, he realized that it never would be. David had gone, forever. Their final night together, making love tenderly under the stars had shown David the error of his ways and he had done the only thing he knew to do.

Baby found David’s tracks at the base of the ridge that overlooked the cougar’s den. The realization that David had been so close to Orlando and hadn’t even said so much as hello drove dismal shards of pain into him. Even as Orlando looked frantically around, hoping to find David, he knew it would be futile.

Orlando looked at David’s tracks and fought not to cry out with loneliness. It had been two weeks since David had come to the cabin. The memories of being joined with him haunted Orlando, bringing the sharp sting of tears to his eyes even as his body stirred with remembered ecstasy. Blindly he looked at the indentations David’s boots had left in the newly fertile earth, then tilted his head and called into the wind.

“David! David, can’t you hear me? I love you!”

Nothing answered. Nothing would. David was gone.

For the first time Orlando admitted to himself that his warrior would not come to him again. His love had not been able to heal David. Even worse, his repeated offerings of love had undermined the peace of mind David had won at such a terrible cost in the burned-out villages of Afghanistan.

 _The real world is a place where all you can do with your prayers and medicine and rage is hold the babies until they die and then bury them and walk away, just walk away, because any man who cares for anything enough to be hurt by it’s loss is a fool._

David had taken his emotions, locked them up and walked away, forgetting the existence of a key.

It had worked. David had survived where other men had died. He had stayed sane where other men had gone mad. He had kept control of himself where other men had become savages.

Then Orlando had come to the dark warrior, offering love to heal him, offering himself in ways he couldn’t refuse, stripping him of the control that was all that had kept him whole.

 _I’d give my soul not to want you Orlando._

Yet even when cornered, torn apart, wild with the pain of Orlando’s temptation, even then David had not turned on him, had not defended himself against Orlando with his superior strength and savage skill. Instead he had given ecstasy.

In return, Orlando had given him a new taste of the old agony. Orlando would die remembering the wild darkness in his eyes and the extraordinary gentleness of his body.

“Warrior,” Orlando whispered, trembling, his fingertips tracing across the almost faded bruise on the curve of his neck, left there by David’s nipping kisses. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know what I was doing to you. I didn’t think what the cost would be if I couldn’t heal you.”

Orlando heard his own words and for the first time understood his own naïve arrogance – he had thought himself capable of healing a man he couldn’t even make smile. As the instant of understanding came, agony went through him as deeply as ecstacy had, hammer blows of pain twisting through his mind and body, driving him to his knees. With a low sound he bent his head and wrapped his arms around himself.

 _The pain, David. My god, the pain. I would give my soul…_

After a long time Orlando straightened and slowly stood. Despite the tears that would not stop falling, he walked back to the cabin. There was no reason to stay there any longer, no excuse. His preliminary survey was complete, his notes in order, everything was ready to be handed over to others who would decide whether to continue the research at Fangorn Canyon.

He should have left a week ago, but he had stayed on, making excuses about unfinished work, watching the horizon, hoping and praying and hungering for the man he loved. Now nothing remained but to take the advice of the warrior who knew how to survive.

 _Walk away, just walk away._

Orlando began packing up his belongings and stowing them in the truck. Baby watched him with total alertness, yellow eyes intent, sensing that something was wrong. Orlando spoke to him quietly from time to time, but never slowed the pace of his movements until the cabin lay empty again, no trace of his presence but the ashes cold in the hearth.

Without a backward glance, Orlando drove from Fangorn Canyon, never hesitating until he came to a fork in the track. The left hand road led to Helm’s Deep. The other led to the Double L home yards.

Orlando’s mind chose the left hand fork. His hands chose the right.

When Orlando drove the truck into the ranch house’s broad graveled front drive, there was only one vehicle parked between Dom’s house and the barn. Orlando got out of the truck and started to close the door. Baby shot by him in a fluid leap, but once free he made no attempt to run off. He simply stood and watched him with an unwavering yellow glance that told him he would resist being separated from his master. The wolf didn’t know what was wrong; he simply knew that something was.

“Heel,” Orlando said softly.

Baby vacillated between charging up the stairs to his favourite little person, or staying with his troubled master before he obeyed the command and moved to stand at Orlando's heel like a black shadow

The sun was almost hot in the ranch yard. Flowers bloomed vividly in beds that ran along the porch, beds that had been lovingly tended by Dom as he taught his love of nature to Daisy May. The bright colours and soft petals spoke eloquently of winter’s surrender to spring.

Orlando knocked at the door. A familiar voice answered from within. “Door's open. There’s coffee in the kitchen. I’ll be with you as soon as I get Lennox settled down.”

Orlando hesitated, then opened the door and walked into the living room. Two playpens stood along the wall beneath a whimsical hand-carved mobile featuring what appeared to be elves and wizards. One playpen was empty. The other held Lana, dressed in a soft pink playsuit. She was fussing in the manner of a baby who had been awakened too early. Orlando smiled as Daisy-May toddled toward them, her fingers sifting through Baby’s ruff as she moved to hug her friend.

“Stay.” Orlando said quietly to Baby as he sank to the floor, Daisy May curling into his side patting him with the fervor of a friendly toddler, her tiny hand brushing across the wolf’s jaws as he turned his head to lick her carefully.

Drawn by Lana’s muted fussing, Orlando went and stood by the playpen.

“Hello my little angel,” Orlando said gently. “I’m sorry I woke you up.”

Lana stopped grumping, looked at Orlando and held her arms out in the confident demand of a well loved child. Orlando bent and lifted the little girl into his arms. The compact warmth and sleepy resilience of Lana’s body brought back an avalanche of memories of another small person, another compact bundle of warmth, and laughter like a field of poppies in the sun.

Holding Lana, rocking slowly, humming softly, Orlando closed his eyes and wished with all his heart that he had been able to have this with David. Wishing that he had been physically able to take the possibility of this, from David, away with him, a tiny piece of David he could nurture forever.

“What are you doing here Orli?” Dom asked as he walked into the room, Lennox snuggled sleepily in his arms.

“It’s time for me to go.” Orlando murmured flatly as he returned the now sleeping Lana to her playpen.

“Running away won’t help.” Dom replied, remembering his own flight from love and the Double L while watching Orlando closely.

“I’m not running, I just need to leave today.” Orlando claimed.

“You need to leave on a day when Billy and Daisy are out working the lease lands on the other side of Mortensen Ridge? Daisy won’t be back until well after sundown. I can get one of the hands to saddle you a horse and take you out there?”

Orlando closed his eyes for an instant, then shook his head slowly, the curls that David loved so much bouncing around his face and reminding him of his lovers gentle touch. A sheen of bright tears filling his eyes.

“Come here.” Dom said as he put Lennox down in his playpen. Looking at Orlando’s pale face, red rimmed eyes and drawn mouth, “I think first of all you need this.” He pulled Orlando into his arms for a tight hug.

“Would you give him a message for me?” Orlando stood still in Dom’s embrace for a few moments before he melted into Dom’s arms.

“Come and have a coffee with me.” Dom asked gently, “I don’t think you should drive like this.” His hands stroked Orlando’s back slowly.

“I don’t want to hurt him anymore.” Orlando sighed, “I need to leave now, give him time to heal.”

“You have done nothing but heal him.” Dom murmured.

“I’ve finished the preliminary survey of the cougars in and around Fangorn Canyon. There are two full time resident cats. One is a mother with three cubs. The other is a young male. I’ve found absolutely no indication that the cougars are feeding on anything but natural prey.”

Dom let out a long sigh, understanding Orlando’s avoidance tactics. “That’s good news. We didn’t want to have to hunt down the cougars. Nobody was happy about the prospect either, but they would have done it to protect the calves.”

Orlando felt cold at the thought of David having to kill the mama cougar. David had known too much of death and violence, not enough of love and life.

“I’m glad the mama cougar lives on the Double L land.” Orlando said after a moment. “She’ll be safe here.”

“God yes. David watches over her like a mother hen. I’ve been trying to get him to take me to see the cubs, but he’s worried about disturbing her before the cubs are old enough to leave the den.”

“She’s a good mother,” Orlando said. “All three of her cubs are lively and strong. When she calls to them, she makes the most beautiful sounds….”

Orlando closed his eyes and touched the leather thong that held the tiny gold ring that lay against his chest.

“You look tired, and it’s a long way from here to anywhere else,” Dom said. “Why don’t you stay for dinner and then overnight? You can park your truck behind the house if you’re worried about him seeing you. He doesn’t even need to know you’re here. Billy would love to hear more about the cats.”

“David can answer his questions.”

“Thanks,” Dom said dryly, “But I’d just as soon Billy didn’t take on his brother right now. In the past two weeks David has set new records for being a taciturn asshole. He’s shut down, sealed up and his eyes are enough to give Baby pause. Frankly, Billy and I were hoping you would show up here. Anyone else who tries to reach David will get their head handed to them.”

Slowly Orlando shook his head.

“Don’t misunderstand me,” Dom said quickly, touching Orlando’s arm. “You know he’s a good man. You don’t have to worry about him hurting you, he loves you. He would never hurt you physically. You and I both know, you better than anyone I’m guessing, the great gentleness he’s capable of. Seeing him with the babies is almost enough to make the hardest man cry.”

“I know.” Orlando whispered.

“Then why won’t you stay and talk to him?”

“Because he doesn’t want to talk to me.”

There was no way that Dom could misunderstand the pain in Orlando’s voice, in his expression, in the fine trembling of his fingers as he reached up and unfastened the thong around his neck and unthreaded the gold ring from the leather. Carefully he looped the ring on the curve of a fairy’s wings on the mobile above the playpens. The gold glistened like sunlight caught in the mobile’s changing lines.

“Orlando?” Dom questioned softly.

“Tell Billy that the university will send him a copy of my report, including photographs of the cougars tracks and sketches of the boundaries of their territories,” Orlando said, his voice husky. “And tell him thank you from the bottom of my heart. Too many ranchers would have killed the cats out of suspicion and mistrust and ignorance.”

Orlando turned and walked quickly to the door. Kneeling in front of Baby, he lifted the sleeping Daisy-May into his arms and turned back, pressing her into the stunned Dominic’s arms. At a single small movement of his hand, Baby rose. With the silence of smoke, the wolf followed Orlando outdoors. Behind them the tiny braided gold ring shimmered and shone above the healthy, sleeping babies.

~*~*~*~*~

When David came in the front door of the ranch house, the first stop was always the playpens. They were empty which meant that the “Double L monsters” were either having their bedtime baths or their final feeding before bed. Disappointed at having missed a chance to play with Lana and Lennox, David took off his black Stetson, snapped it against his thigh, and tugged the hat back in place on his head.

“Need any help?” David called through the house.

“So far so good,” Dom called back, “Coffee’s in the kitchen.”

David poured himself a mug of coffee and went back to the living room, bothered by something he couldn’t name. Eyes narrowed, he looked around while the squeals of a child splashing enthusiastically in the bath drifted through the house. Though nothing seemed obviously out of place in the living room, something kept nagging at David just beneath the conscious thought, telling him that all was not as it seemed.

Stirred by the passage of David’s restless pacing, the mobiles moved. A shimmer of gold caught his eye. He turned and walked closer. An instant later he recognized the tiny braided ring he had last seen nestled against Orlando’s chest. David’s breath stopped as his heart contracted in his chest.

 _I wear Savannah’s ring to remind myself that love is never wasted, never futile._

Shards of past conversations sliced through him, making him bleed with a pain he had vowed never to feel.

Orlando’s softly accented voice, so filled with surety of his emotions and his own cynical rebuttals, guaranteed to drive pain through his young virginal lover.

 _”I love you David.”_

 _“That’s what I was afraid you were telling yourself. Fairy Tales. You can’t accept that all there is between us is sex. Pure and simple and hot as hell.”_

With great care David freed the delicate ring from the mobile.

His finger’s trembled as he lifted the delicate golden ring to his lips, kissing it gently, his tears trickling unbidden down his cheeks as snippets of their first joining cut through him, his shoulders heaving with his sorrow as he relived every touch and every word inside his head..

 _”I’m worlds too hard for you but I want you until my hands shake”._

 _“Now I know what life tastes like.”_

Orlando’s fingertips brushing him, his husky voice whispering, words burning into his soul and the tiny ring gleaming as light caressed the intertwined strands of gold.

 _”I’m not offering you love and happily ever after. I can’t be what you want me to be.”_

Brown eyes luminous, alive with all the joy of life, watching him, loving him.

Orlando had known from the very start. He had known that David was going to hurt him, pain him beyond physical or emotional redemption and yet he had leapt into their relationship with an open heart and an open mind. He gave of himself body and soul without reservation and all David could give him was pain.

  
 _”Love is never wasted. Never. But it can hurt like nothing else on earth.”_

 _“I would sell my soul not to want you.”_

 _“Fairy tale boy, all laughter and golden light.”_

But no longer.

David had stripped Orlando of his laughter as surely as he had stripped him of his innocence. Orlando had loved him; but he had denied that love was possible. He had left Orlando without a word of hope … and now Orlando no longer wore the tiny gold ring.

Orlando hadn’t been able to teach him to believe in love, but David had been able to teach Orlando how to believe in despair.

David made the low sound of a man who had just taken a fatal blow. He hadn’t meant to destroy anything at all, much less something as rare and beautiful as Orlando. Yet he had destroyed just the same, just as he had feared. The proof was laying in his hands, a dead child’s ring and a living man’s endless loss.

For a long time David stood motionless, staring into space, seeing nothing, not Dominic watching helplessly from the kitchen doorway, not even his own tears, not noticing when he fell to his knees in the middle of the room, his body shaking with his soul-wracking sobs.

[ Chapter 32](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/8773.html)


	32. Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists <32/34>

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.

_  
**FIC: Western Lovers:Cowboys & Biologists (32/34)**   
_   
  
[   
](http://photobucket.com)

**Title:** Western Lovers: Cowboys and Biologists  <32/34>  
 **Author:**[](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/profile)[ **sassywitch**](http://sassywitch.livejournal.com/)  
 **Beta** by the talented [](http://alassenya.livejournal.com/profile)[**alassenya**](http://alassenya.livejournal.com/)  
 **Pairing:** OB/DW  
 **Rating:** NC-17 for the series, and for this chapter.  
 **Summary:** David is a hard, jaded warrior, Orlando is a biologist tracking Big Cats on the Double L.  
 **Feedback:** Feedback is my writers crack, which is not to be confused at all with plumbers crack.  
 **Disclaimer:** Not at all true in reality. These men whilst adorable and perfectly happy to slash themselves, their actual relationship is something that they only know. This story is adapted from a series of books that I adored when I was younger written by Elizabeth Lowell.  
 **Word Count:** 2474  
 **Previous Story:** Can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1656893.html)  
 **Previous Ordaisy chapter:** As suggested by [](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/profile)[**mystery_ink**](http://mystery-ink.livejournal.com/) can be found [here](http://community.livejournal.com/monaboyd/1650642.html)  
 **Previous Chapters:**  
[Chapter 1](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/353.html)|[Chapter 2](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/597.html) |[Chapter 3](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/910.html)|[Chapter 4](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1032.html)|[Chapter 5](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1359.html)|[Chapter 6](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/1630.html)|[ Chapter 7](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2014.html)|[ Chapter 8](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2254.html)|[ Chapter 9](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2332.html)|[ Chapter 10](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/2625.html)|[ Chapter 11](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3070.html)|[ Chapter 12](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3269.html)|[ Chapter 13](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3428.html)|[ Chapter 14](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3585.html)|[ Chapter 15](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/3915.html)|[ Chapter 16](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4160.html)|[ Chapter 17](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4474.html)|[ Chapter 18](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4844.html)|[ Chapter 19](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/4918.html)|[ Chapter 20](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/5357.html)|[ Chapter 21](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/5428.html)|[ Chapter 22](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/5851.html)|[ Chapter 23](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/5952.html)|[ Chapter 24](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/6322.html)|[ Chapter 25](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/6685.html)|[ Chapter 26](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/7013.html)|[ Chapter 27](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/7327.html)|[ Chapter 28](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/7519.html)|[ Chapter 29](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/7976.html)|[ Chapter 30](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/8422.html)|[ Chapter 31](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/8661.html)

  
 **Posted to:** [](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/profile)[**fellowshippers**](http://fellowshippers.livejournal.com/) , [](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/profile)[**monaboyd**](http://monaboyd.livejournal.com/) and [](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/profile)[**ordaisy**](http://ordaisy.livejournal.com/)  
 **Header Art:** Courtesy of the incredibly talented [](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/profile)[**loki_girl**](http://loki-girl.livejournal.com/).

~*~*~*~*~*  
Billy leaned against the heavy wooden barn door watching his brother. Shirtless, his jeans stained with ash, rivulets of sweat streaming down his back, David pounded incessantly against the red hot metal he held against the forge.

“Think you might be finished beating the crap out of that any time soon?” Billy asked as he walked into the barn.

“No!” David growled without pausing.

“Any particular reason you need to be doing that?” Billy probed, stepping closer to the forge.

“No!” David grunted. “Just fuck off and leave me alone.”

“Can’t do that.” Billy almost grinned, “Well, I could, but I took pity on you. Dom was coming out to talk some sense into you, but I came instead.”

“Thanks. I’m fine. Fuck off.” David grunted, plunging the steel he was working with back into the coals.

“You can’t keep this up.” Billy stated, moving to sit on a bale of hay.

“Not keeping anything up, I’m doing what I should, and not hurting anyone.” David stood straighter, turning to face Billy.

“Except yourself.”

“So?” David shrugged, lifting his shirt from the rail beside Billy he wiped his face, spreading the smears of ash and dirt across his skin mingling with his sweat. “Doesn’t matter.”

“Go and find him.” Billy advised.

“No.” David growled.

“Why not?”

“Because I’m not.” David replied, standing in front of Billy, his hands on his hips defensively.

“Because you’re a stubborn prick who hasn’t learned anything from my mistakes.” Billy sighed.

“Because I know when I’ve done wrong, I should never have touched him. I should never have even thought about it, let alone been weak enough to hurt him the way I did.”

“For fuck's sake Daisy, get over it, you’re pining like a lovesick puppy. Go and find him.” Billy implored.

“I’m no good for him. We both know that.” David shrugged.

“And we both know that I was no good for Dom, but neither of us has ever been happier. Face facts. Relationships aren’t logical. You need to find him, and for God’s sake tell him that you love him. He loves you.”

“How the hell do you know?” David frowned, pacing back and forth in front of his brother.

“I just know.” Billy shrugged non committally.

“Will you stop your other half matchmaking? Please?” David rubbed a large dirty hand over his face before he looked up into his brother’s face, his bleak eyes pleading.

“Hey, don’t look at me, I’ve already been threatened with the loss of privileges if I don’t make and I quote “my dumbass sibling” see sense.” Billy laughed derisively.

“God forbid I should interfere with your sex life.” David smirked, then sobered. “What happens if I find him and he’s changed his mind?”

“Did Dom?” Billy asked softly. “Did I?”

David turned, ran his large hand through his sweat-damp hair, his face filled with confusion, his eyes shimmering with tears that he refused to shed in front of his brother.

“Let me put it a different way.” Billy spoke his soft brogue barely audible above the crackling of coals in the forge. “Will you change your mind?”

David turned and walked towards the doorway, looking across the grassy expanses of the home yards towards Billy’s house, his arms folded over his chest, as he shook his head. Billy watched his brother sadly, remembering a time when his pain was as sharp and biting as David’s obviously was now. Standing, a little uncomfortable with experiencing David’s raw pain, Billy walked towards the doorway and patted David’s back reassuringly.

“Then what makes you think he will?” he asked quietly as he walked from the barn and back towards his house and his own lover.

~*~*~*~*~*~

“Well?” Dom demanded as Billy stepped through the door.

“You need to stop matchmaking.” Billy replied, lifting Lennox from Dom’s arms and playfully blowing raspberries against his belly as he spoke.

“You didn’t see them. Both of them. Their hearts are breaking. Orli can barely exist and I’ve never seen anything as broken as Daisy. You didn’t see him when he found the ring, we can’t let them end like this.” Dom leaned into Lana’s playpen and lifted her into his arms.

“Dom, please, I know Daisy. He needs to change his own mind. None of us will do it for him.” Billy explained as he tickled his giggling son.

“Then take the damned stubborn bastard out into a field and beat it out of him.” Dom stated.

“Won’t do any good.” Billy snuggled his son, not even looking up at Dom as he spoke.

“Were we like that?” Dom moved across the room with danced with their giggling daughter, stopping only long enough to press a soft kiss against Billy’s cheek.

“Worse.” Liv’s voice sounded from the doorway. Carrying Daisy-May on her hip she stepped into the room and pressed a kiss to each man’s cheek as he presented it to her. “But you two ended up seeing sense.” Daisy-May clamored to be hugged in her PapaBilly’s arms, so he extended one arm to her and passed Lennox carefully into Liv’s keeping. “So, did you make him see sense?” Liv asked.

“Goddammit, not you too?” Billy cried out wearily. “Yes I spoke to him but he has to make the decision, not us. In the meantime, could you two stop meddling?”

“We’re not meddling, Billy. That’s what we’ve got you for.” Liv laughed as she laid Lennox in his playpen and walked back towards the door. “Gotta go, I left Viggo in charge of Milo and Rosie, God only knows what the three of them will be up to.” She smiled and almost ran out the door and down the steps.

~*~*~*~*~*~

David stood outside the University Chancellor's office, waiting patiently for his meeting. Orlando had been gone for three weeks before he finally decided that he needed to track him down. A further two weeks had been spent exhausting every available avenue he knew of to find even a town in Alaska where he could start searching. It appeared that Orlando Bloom had all but vanished. As a last resort, David had convinced Dom and Billy that he needed to plead his case with their friend and Dom’s boss, Chancellor Holm, praying that he would release the private information that the university protected more closely than the CIA did the identity of their operatives.

“Mr Wenham?” A short man, dressed in charcoal grey trousers, rumpled shirt and vest spoke from the doorway in front of the bench that David sat on. “I’m Ian Holm.” He paused then continued at David’s blank look, “The Chancellor. I believe you wish to see me.”

“Thank you.” David shook his hand, “I have a problem that I’m sure you’ll be able to sort out for me.”

Chancellor Holm ushered David into his office and closed the door behind them, before walking over to sit behind his desk, gesturing for David to be seated in the large leather seat that faced the ornate desk.

“Before you start Mr Wenham, I must tell you that I too am unable to provide what you have been requesting.” The Chancellor spoke calmly.

“Then why did you agree to meet with me?” David growled, his body tensing with the frustration he was feeling.

“Because, frankly, you’re scaring my staff and I need you to stop it.”

“I won’t stop it until I find him.” David replied shortly.

“Then I will be forced to take steps, legal steps, to stop you harassing my people.” Chancellor Holm responded calmly.

“You leave me no choice.” David calmly stated. “I will take whatever measures I need to, to find Orlando.”

“What is so important about him?” The Chancellor asked softly.

“He is a special man. A very special man.” David murmured. “He is my life, and I hurt him enough for him to run away, I need to bring him home.”

“You hurt him?” Holm asked, “And you expect after divulging that knowledge that I would willingly give up the personal details of a staff member?”

David stood and leaned menacingly over the table. “I wasn’t going to tell you this, as I don’t want to interfere with his career, and I know how you narrow minded little officials can be. Orlando is my lover, he left after an argument, I never have or would lay a finger on him, but I’m a hard man Chancellor.” David leaned forward, resting his weight on fisted hands. “Emotionally I hurt the man who is my lover. I want to put things right, but I can’t do that if I can’t fucking find him.” He paused and stood straighter, pacing through his temper, David turned to look at the Chancellor again. “Are we on the same page now?”

“Indeed we are Mr Wenham, but I’m afraid I still can’t help you. We have rules for a reason.”

“I’ve tried everything I know, I can’t find him. I need to explain myself to him and give him back his sister’s ring.” David flopped into the chair.

“He gave you her ring?” The Chancellor asked.

“He left it for me in lieu of a note when he ran away.” David frowned, “How do you know about the ring?”

“We all know, one of the female professors commented on the incongruity of that tiny delicate ring in amongst the other charms he wears and he told us the history.” Chancellor Holm watched him speculatively.

“Then you understand why I need to find him. He should have the ring back.” David sat forward eager to explain the gravity of the situation.

“Perhaps you should leave the ring with me and I’ll see to it that he gets it.”

“No.” David growled, “It’s not leaving my neck until I put it back around his.”

“Then it’s rather unfortunate that we can’t help you.”

“Look, I’m not asking for much just tell me the town he’s in and I’ll go and knock on every single door until I find him.” David pulled a leather cord from under his shirt, revealing the ring. “You know him, you know he wouldn’t give this to anyone. We need each other, I get that now, but I don’t know how to find him. You could tell me. So the way I see it, Orli’s future is in your hands.”

“I don’t have Orlando’s word on that, you could have taken that ring from him.” The Chancellor speculated.

David bounced out of his chair and leaned menancingly over the desk again. “Why the fuck would I take that ring, and can you honestly see him giving it up without a fight?” David snarled. “Jesus he loved that little girl and wore this ring for more than a decade. He wouldn’t part with it for nothing. Please, I’m not an axe murderer, or a stalker, I just want to put my lover back together again. If you had a shard of romance in you, you’d help me to find him.”

“I have one important question for you, and my answer to you will depend on your response.” Holm asked. “You speak of romance and you paint a very pretty picture of your lover, Orlando, what I haven’t heard is how you feel about him.”

“I’ve told you.” David growled.

“No you haven’t, you’ve told me about your lover, but you’ve not once mentioned your emotions. I know Orlando, I know that for him to give you that ring he loves you deeply. I also know for him to leave the way he did, he was hurting badly. I can but only assume that you are the reason for that pain. Why should I inflict you on him again?”

“Because, you officious little bureaucrat, without him in my life I am nothing, without him by my side my life is empty. I am not going to say the words to you that I haven’t even said to him. That’s why he left, because I couldn’t tell him. Wouldn’t tell him. He deserves to be the one that hears those words the first time I say them.”

Chancellor Holm watched him speculatively for long moments before he spoke again. “I will never ever do this again, in fact I am only doing so now only because I trust your brother and Dominic implicitly and I know that Orlando wouldn’t have left that ring with you lightly. If I hear you hurt him, in any way, I might be an officious little bureaucrat, but I can make your life hell in a myriad ways.

“You’re going to tell me?” David asked incredulous.

“Yes. You see I believe you love him, even if you don’t believe it yourself yet. I think that Orlando deserves happiness, and if you can give that to him, who am I to keep you apart?” He paused and spoke briefly into the intercom that sat on the edge of his desk, before turning back to David. “I believe we’re done here now?”

“Thank you, I’m sorry I was so…abrupt,” David murmured, as he moved towards the door.

“No you’re not, but I understand completely.”

~*~*~*~

Dom sat cross legged on the middle of David’s bed, watching him push clothes into a backpack, and struggle with Daisy-May’s little arms wrapped around his leg as he tried to walk across the room.

“So tell me again, what are you doing?” Dom asked quietly, beckoning Daisy-May towards him.

“Going to Alaska.” David answered shortly. Stuffing a pair of jeans into the pack, he bent to scoop the toddler into his arms and deposit her onto the bed, next to her Daddy.

“Shouldn’t you call him first?” Dom asked carefully, his fingers absently twirling Daisy-May’s hair.

“Nope.” David replied as he stuffed his toiletries into a wet pack.

“Because?” Dom questioned offhandedly as he played a clapping game with Daisy-May.

“Because if he says he doesn’t want me to come, then I don’t know exactly what I’ll do. Jesus, Dominic I’d rather find out face to face that I’ve killed any chance I have with him instead of over the phone if it’s all the same to you.”

“I didn’t say anything, I think it’s romantic.” Dom grinned, ducking his head as David threw a tee-shirt at him.

“Not all of us need romance the same way you seem to, Dominic.” David closed the top of his pack tightly and hefted it onto the chair in the corner of the room, watching as Dom lifted Daisy-May off the bed.

“It’s not the romance that I need, it’s Billy that I need - the romance is just an added bonus.” Dom settled his daughter on his hip and walked over to David and pressed a kiss against his cheek. “Don’t you dare come home without him, Daisy Wenham, or the kids and I will kick your ass.”

[ Chapter 33](http://community.livejournal.com/ordaisy/9005.html)|  



End file.
